Govt rules out auction of 2G spectrum

NEW DELHI: The government on Tuesday denied any move to auction spectrum for second generation mobile services - a shift from the current subscriber-linked allocation policy.

"There is no question of that (2G auction)... I am not having any such intention," Telecom Minister A Raja today told reporters here.

The Department of Telecom had earlier said a CDMA operator had written a letter to the government seeking auction of additional spectrum against the current subscriber- led allocation.

As per the present policy, a GSM operator receives up to 6.25 MHz, while a CDMA operator gets up to 5 MHz, on meeting the specified subscriber base criteria. An additional allocation is made on the basis of the operator's subscriber base.

As per the unified access licence, the government had not committed more than 6.2 Mhz to GSM players and, therefore, any subsequent allocation may be auctioned, the CDMA player is believed to have said.

However, the GSM operators have opposed the demand