Rs 5.36 lakh crore worth spectrum on sale

In what could be the biggest ever sale of telecom airwaves, the government will auction 2,000 megahertz spectrum in the next two to three months, telecom minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said on Friday.

“I think in the coming two to three months as I expect we will go for one the highest ever auction of 2,000 megahertz so that you (industry players) have ample spectrum available. From sharing, trading and also auction centric spectrum available,” he said at an Assocham event here.

As per plan recommended by telecom regulator Trai, about 2,100 mhz spectrum is available for auction.

At base price recommended by the telecom regulator, the auction has potential to fetch bids worth Rs 5.36 lakh crore. This amo-unt is almost double the cost of all spectrum investment to date in India and more than 20 times the annual free cash flow of the entire mobile industry in India, as per global telecom industry body GSMA.