By IANS,
New Delhi : The Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) on telecom Friday deferred a decision on the one-time spectrum fee to be paid by incumbent telecom operators.
“No decision has been taken on one-time spectrum fee. Will wait for presidential reference,” Communications Minister Kapil Sibal told reporters after the meeting.
The cabinet at its meeting July 3 had referred the matter of one-time spectrum fee to the EGoM.
Under this, the telecom ministry has proposed to charge for spectrum held by operators whose whose licences were not cancelled.
The Supreme Court Feb 2 ordered cancellation of 122 licences including those of Uninor, Sistema Shyam Teleservices, Loop Telecom, Etisalat DB, Videocon, Idea Cellular and STel.
The EGoM has been dealing with the issue of spectrum auction now.
Last week it discussed the crucial issue of spectrum pricing and recommended that the minimum price for spectrum be cut to Rs.14,000-16,000 crore, reducing it from the Rs.18,000 crore suggested by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).