Centre Working On Reform In Spectrum Pricing Mechanism, Auction To Be Held This Year: Telecom Minister RS Prasad

Union Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Monday (14 October) said that the government is working on reforms in the spectrum pricing mechanism.

The statement gains significance as telecom operators have complained of high spectrum prices pegged by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) for the next auctions.

Speaking at the inaugural session of the India Mobile Congress 2019 (IMC), Prasad, who also holds the IT portfolio, assured that the next spectrum auction would be held this year.

Prasad's statement on reform in pricing mechanism came after Rakesh Bharti Mittal, Vice-Chairman of Bharti Enterprises, while addressing the session before the minister had said that the base prices set by TRAI are "significantly" higher than global prices.

Prasad also said that the government is working to resolve rights of way (RoW) issues. He added that he would call a meeting with IT ministers from states to discuss on resolving the RoW issues.

(This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.)