EGoM fixes reserve price of 3G spectrum, WiMax

New Delhi, Aug 27(ANI): An 'Empowered Group of Ministers' (EGoM), constituted by the Government to supervise the spectrum for 3G telephony, on Thursday fixed the reserve price for pan-India 3G spectrum at Rs 3,500 crore.

It also decided to allow only five operators to offer the high-speed mobile services in the first phase, where one existing operator - BSNL or MTNL - in their respective circles will be given the spectrum along with four new operators.

While addressing the media, Union Minister for Communications and IT A Raja said that the government will complete the auction of 3G spectrum within three months and expects to raise Rs 25,000 crore.

The EGoM has also fixed the reserve price of Rs 1,750 crore for the WiMax services.

Earlier, government had decided to auction 3G spectrum at a reserve price of Rs 4,040 crore to at least six private operators besides state-owned MTNL and BSNL, but the EGoM went for its own pricing after representations from the private operators to slightly lower it.

The meeting of the EGoM was lead by Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, other ministers in the panel were P Chidambaram, A K Antony, Veerappa Moily, Sharad Pawar, A Raja, Ambika Soni, Prithviraj Chavan and Montek Sigh Ahluwalia. (ANI)