Raja says 3G auction on schedule; to meet PM, FM

New Delhi, Nov 4 (UNI) Enthusing confidence that the 3G auction will be on schedule despite the global financial crisis, Communications and IT Minister A Raja today said he will meet the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister to discuss the issues related to the radio frequency auction.

Earlier, the government had said that it will allocate spectrum for the next generation radio frequency to successful bidders by the end of January next year after holding the auction as planned earlier in the month.

''3G auctioning is on schedule... I will meet Finance Minister P Chidambaram and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today to discuss certain issues relating to the auctioning,'' Mr Raja said on the sidelines of ''India Telecom 2008'', without divulging the details of the issues.

Meanwhile, Telecom Secretary Siddhartha Behura said there would be no delay in the plan to complete the auction by mid-January.

The government had expected to get as much as Rs 40,000 crore from auctioning broadband and 3G spectrum.

However, some of the telecom players have raised apprehensions in raising the money for the bidding due to the liquidity crunch.

When asked about the expected realisation from the 3G spectrum auction in the wake of global meltdown, Mr Raja said, ''once the auction process is over, only then we will know what has been the revenue.'' UNI SBA MP HS1556