NEW DELHI: The long-drawn feud between the communications ministry and telecom regulator TRAI over the third-generation (3G) mobile services policy has come to an end.

TRAI has decided to approve the department of telecom’s plan to double the reserve price for pan-India 3G spectrum auction to Rs 2,260 crore.

The regulator is likely to inform DoT of its decision on Saturday. TRAI on Friday also cleared DoT’s proposal to hike the reserve price for pan-India broadband wireless access (BWA) spectrum — popularly known as WiMAX — to around Rs 840 crore (Rs 60 crore for metros and category A circles, Rs 30 crore for category B and Rs 10 crore for category C circles).

This implies that a telco bidding for both 3G and WiMAX spectrum on a pan-India basis will have to shell out a minimum price or reserve price of around Rs 3,000 crore.

While TRAI continues to oppose DoT’s plan to allow new players — both domestic and foreign — from participating in the 3G auction, it acknowledges that since DoT has followed the proper procedure of referring the 3G policy back to it, the government has the authority to over ride the regulator’s final recommendations.

Also Read

Idea row goes for arbitration

DoT bats for BlackBerry, wants updated technology

Sibling rivalry spurs Anil Ambani to merge his firm with MTN

RCOM gets lifeline for MTN

Anil Ambani's group charges Mukesh of sabotaging MTN deal

Telcos, however, refused to comment on TRAI’s approval of the doubling of 3G base price. “So far, neither the government nor TRAI has announced the new base price. We are awaiting the official announcement of the policy,” said an executive with a telco. “The base price has no value for either 3G or WiMAX.

Since there are so many players, the auction amount will be very high. DoT would have got the same price in the auction even if it had retained the original base price,” explained a senior executive with another telco. Internet service providers, however, slammed TRAI’s move to hike the reserve price for WiMAX spectrum.

“Hiking the reserve price for WiMAX spectrum will have a negative impact on the growth of broadband. So far, the country’s broadband growth has been miserable and both DoT and TRAI have done nothing to correct this,” president of the Internet Service Providers Association of India (ISPAI) Rajesh Chharia told ET.