The government on Friday fixed a floor or minimum price of Rs14,000 crore for auctioning pan-India mobile-phone spectrum, a decision old telecom players termed as "disappointing" calling the rates too high.
The price approved was 22% lower than Rs18,000 crore minimum rate suggested by sector regulator, TRAI. It was, however, 7 times higher than the price new companies had paid in 2008 to get spectrum from the then Telecom Minister A Raja.
Cabinet also accepted the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) recommendation of pricing 800 Mhz spectrum at 1.3 times the rate of 1,800 Mhz band airwave, Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal told reporters after the meeting.
This translates into Rs18,200 crore for pan-India spectrum.
Terming the decision as "disappointing", Rajan Mathews, Director General of Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) -- a body of GSM operators like Airtel and Vodafone, said the move would lead of a 30 paisa per minute increase in mobile phone tariffs.
"The effect on finances is that an amount of Rs320,000 crore of additional debt that will have to be laid on the industry," he said.
Read More : Spectrum base price fixed at Rs14,000 crore; COAI disappointed - India - DNA
The price approved was 22% lower than Rs18,000 crore minimum rate suggested by sector regulator, TRAI. It was, however, 7 times higher than the price new companies had paid in 2008 to get spectrum from the then Telecom Minister A Raja.
Cabinet also accepted the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) recommendation of pricing 800 Mhz spectrum at 1.3 times the rate of 1,800 Mhz band airwave, Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal told reporters after the meeting.
This translates into Rs18,200 crore for pan-India spectrum.
Terming the decision as "disappointing", Rajan Mathews, Director General of Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) -- a body of GSM operators like Airtel and Vodafone, said the move would lead of a 30 paisa per minute increase in mobile phone tariffs.
"The effect on finances is that an amount of Rs320,000 crore of additional debt that will have to be laid on the industry," he said.
Read More : Spectrum base price fixed at Rs14,000 crore; COAI disappointed - India - DNA