Central Government kicks off 3G spectrum auction

NEW DELHI - The Union Government on Friday kick-started the much awaited auction of the third-generation (3G) telecom services, which is proposed to smooth the progress of high-speed mobile services in the country.

In the current fiscal, the government has approximated a profit of about Rs. 35,000 crore from the sale of 3G services, which would provide faster connectivity and offer applications like internet TV, video-on-demand, audio-video calls and high-speed data exchange.

According to reports, major telecom operators, including Vodafone, Bharti, Aircel, Reliance Communications and Tata Teleservices, are participating in the auction process for airwaves in all 22 service areas.

The Notice Inviting Applications (NIA) for the auction was issued on February 25, and as per NIA four operators will be allowed in five states of Punjab, West Bengal, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu Kashmir.

There will be three private players for most of the circles, including Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai.

The bidders will be allowed to start the 3G services on commercial basis from September 1. (ANI)