The Empowered Group of Ministers has decided to reduce the reserve price by 30 per cent in the four circles in the 1800 MHz band,where remained unsold. It is reported in the press that the centre has taken a decision to lower the price of 1800MHz band spectrum by 30 per cent in the four circles viz Delhi,Mumbai, Karnataka and Rajasthan where there were no bidders in the 2G auction held on 12-14 November 2012.

The reserrve price for the last month ‘s sale per block were, Delhi-Rs.693.06 crore Mumbai-Rs.678.45 crore Karnataka-Rs.330.12 crore and Rajasthan- Rs.67.08 crore.. .The greedy telecom companies, it is reported,are still not satisfied on this drastic reduction in the base price.It may be noted that the auction of 2G spectrum was nececiated as per the directive of the Supreme Court which had cancelled 122 licences of the big telecom companies by its order on 2nd February,2012. The upex court had to intervene again when the auction conducted in the last month became a flop allegedly due to the tacit understanding between the centre and the private telecom companies and the Court criticised the centre for not auctioning the entire spectrum available.The Supreme Court warned the centre that it will not be allowed to keep even 0.1 per cent spectrum.

Now the central government has stated that the auction of the remaining spectrum will be completed before the end of this fiscal.