Reliance Communications has proposed an entry fee of Rs 150 crore (Rs 1.5 billion) for metro circles and Rs 100 crore (Rs 1 billion) for category B circles for getting 3G spectrum.
Reliance Communications sources said the company officials last week met Department of Telecom officials where they suggested this quantum under a Graded Fee Structure which proposes an entry fee plus 6 per cent revenue share as the methodology for pricing the 3G spectrum.
The Anil Ambani group company has mooted a hybrid model for 3G spectrum fee as per which an entry fee of Rs 150 crore, Rs 100 crore and Rs 50 crore (Rs 500 million) was proposed for Category A, B & C circles respectively, making it a total of Rs 300 crore (Rs 3 billion) if a player wants to offer 3G services Pan India.
The company has made these suggestions to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India too. The government is exploring an entry fee of Rs 250 crore (Rs 2.5 billion) for metro circles for allotting 3G spectrum, while for category B circles it could be around Rs 150 crore.
The proposal has found favour with the finance ministry. 3G spectrum enables service offerings in the form of games, music and video using voice, video and data and helps to bring about broadband on mobiles.
Company sources said if the six key players start offering 3G services across the 23 circles, the government would accrue Rs 1,800 crore or Rs 18 billion (Rs 300 crore or Rs 3 billion x 6) and this should be enough for the government to provide for BSNL's Rs 1,000 crore (Rs 10 billion) expenditure for undertaking spectrum shift from defence to alternate bands of spectrum.
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