India's Department of Telecommunication (DoT) has told prime minister Manmohan Singh that completing the Supreme Court-ordered 2G auctions will take over thirteen months, writes The Economic Times. DoT will be unable to meet the four-month deadline set by the court to award spectrum and licences in place of the 122 permits that were revoked earlier this month. A senior DoT official said the 3G auction process had been completed in 688 days and that it plans to undertake the 2G bandwidth sale in 400 days. The department will seek the Supreme Court's approval to extend the deadline. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) is due to issue its recommendations on the 2G spectrum auctions within the next 60 days. DoT says it will require 95 days to study the regulator's proposals, set the reserve price for bandwidth sale in consultations with other ministries, and get approvals from the group of ministers looking into all spectrum-related issues. DoT has estimated that it will take another 245 days to complete the auction process. The DoT also said the government must take a call on the quantum of spectrum to be sold, the number of blocks and whether they will be in sold on a per Megahertz basis, or in blocks of 1.8 MHz or 4.4 MHz and also if incumbents and new players can participate. The dual technology permits held by Reliance Communications and Tata Teleservices and 3G airwaves held by Idea Cellular and S Tel in regions where their 2G licences had been cancelled were also identified as issues that had to be considered. After the cancellation of the 122 licences, it will have 624.60 MHz of 2G spectrum at its disposal, which will go up to 923.80 MHz after the defence forces vacate bandwidth.
