By IANS,
New Delhi : The government Thursday announced that a 10-member group of ministers (GoM), led by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, will look into the auctions of the third generation (3G) spectrum.
The GoM will also take a decision on the number of players to be allowed to offer the 3G services in each telecom circle.
Defence Minister A.K. Antony, Home Minister P. Chidambaram, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, Telecom Minister A. Raja, Railways Minister Lalu Prasad, Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, Law and Justice Minister H.R. Bhardwaj, Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma and Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia are the other members of the GoM.
Last month, Communications Minister Raja had said spectrum auction would be held before March 31. “There are still chances of completing the entire auction process before the end of this fiscal,” he had said.
Regarding the vacation of defence spectrum, Raja said: “We will sign a memorandum of understanding with the defence ministry. The ministry will release 10 to 15 mega hertz of spectrum the day the agreement is signed.”