3G spectrum auction to end by October-end

Thursday, 28 August 2008, 19:30 IST
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New Delhi: The government Thursday said the auction for allotment of 3G spectrum will end by October-end, while services will roll out before 2009. "Auction of the 3G spectrum will be completed by the end of October, and the government plans to roll out services by the end of this year," Communications and Information Technology Minister A. Raja said at a function here. In another major related development, the minister said the spectrum for CDMA operators for 3G services would also be auctioned now, like the way it is being done for GSM operators. Earlier, with only two players in the CDMA segment, there was not much competition. Now with other players joining, competition is increasing. The auction will be conducted as per the recommendations of the telecom watchdog, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, instead of allocations being made on the basis number of subscribers, the minister said. Till date, Reliance Communication was the only contender in the 3G CDMA space on account of its high subscriber base. With Raja's latest announcement, other operators too can place bids.
Source: IANS
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