Finally things seem to pickup for the 3G auction, reported earlier on Jan29 on GoM to be setup,the Government has yesterday setup a GOM( Group of Ministers) to resolve the issues on 3G auction which include setting the base price for the auction and finalizing the number of slots firms can bid for in the 20 of India’s 22 service areas to be covered by the sale.The GoM reportedly includes Mr Pranab Mukherjee (External Affairs), Mr Lalu Prasad (Railway), Mr Ram Vilas Paswan (Chemical and Fertilisers), Mr A. Raja (Telecom), Mr Anand Sharma (I&B), Mr Sharad Pawar (Agriculture), Mr A. K. Antony (Defence), Mr H.R. Bhardwaj (Law) and the Planning Commission Deputy Chairman, Mr Montek Singh Ahluwalia.
The auction will be conducted by the independent auctioneer, N.M. Rothschild once the issues are resolved by GoM.Though there’s a chance that the auction might take place in the UPA government,the pace of Governments actions on the issue might further auction.
In another news BSNL has now extended the 3G services to 11 cities.The cities that will be covered under this are Agra, Ambala, Jalandhar, Jaipur, Dehradoon, Shimla, Lucknow, Ranchi, Durgapur, Haldia, Patna and soft launch in Jammu.
BSNL also announced tariff plans for 3G mobile services under pre-paid and post-paid voice, video and data plans. The voice call will be available for 10 paisa per minute under full value 1000 plan. Video calls start with Re1 under unlimited 2,500 plan and Rs 2 for STD video calls.
