3G services by march end

The government on Tuesday said radio wave auctions for third generation mobile phone services, or 3G, will be completed by end of March.

“The government is very keen to complete the 3G auction process well within the financial year (March 31, 2010),” Telecom and IT Minister A. Raja told reporters on the sidelines of an event.

He said the notice inviting application for the 3G auction is likely to come out this week.

Auction for four slots of spectrum was to take place on January 14, but differences with the Finance Ministry over payment schedule and defence ministry over spectrum release has delayed the process.

Finance ministry is expecting Rs 35,000 crore from the 3G spectrum auction and the proceeds will be used to bridge the fiscal deficit.