2G re-auction postponed

India’s Supreme Court has extended the deadline for the re-auction of the cancelled 2G licenses by three months, despite a petition from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) requesting a full year to prepare for the tender.

The two-member bench ruled, “In our view, it will be just and proper to partially accept the averments made … Accordingly, the time specified for conducting the auction and grant of licenses is extended up to 31 August 2012.”

The extension gives the sector regulators some breathing room to conduct the auction, but falls short of its proposed auction date of March 2013.

The affected cellcos will be allowed to continue operations until Sept. 7, giving those providers that have chosen to exit the market time to wind-up operations.

In response, the DoT has said it is speeding up the auction process and is awaiting final recommendations from the Telecoms Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), was was expected May 15.

The TRAI’s proposals included price hikes for spectrum, upping the minimum cost by tenfold in some areas, provoking protests from industry representatives.