Telco CEOs meet Sibal today on Trai auction plan

* Industry against five-fold increase in spectrum prices,Telenor to attend

Racheting up the pressure,the chiefs of four telecom firms Bharti Airtel Chairman and Managing Director Sunil Bharti Mittal,Vodafone CEO Vittorio Colao,Idea Cellular Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla and Telenor CEO Jon Fredrik Baksaas are expected to meet Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal on Wednesday to voice their concerns over telecom regulator Trais recommendations on spectrum auction issued late last month.

Trais proposals entailing a multi-fold increase in the base price for the upcoming 2G spectrum auctions have evoked sharp reactions from telecom players.

Norways Telenor on Monday had indicated that it may exit India business if the recommendations are accepted. In a filing to the Oslo Stock Exchange,the firm said it is writing off its remaining fixed and intangible assets in India worth Norwegian Krone 3.9 billion (over $680 million).

Other foreign firms too have said they plan to keep away from the proposed auctions triggered by the February 2 order of the apex court,which scrapped all 122 new licences issued during former Telecom Minister A Rajas tenure,including 22 held by Telenor,and called for fresh auctions.

On the day Telenor announced that it would write off its Indian investments,Australias Telstra Corporation and Swedens TeliaSonera AB Europes fifth-largest mobile phone operator said they would not participate in the 2G spectrum auction. Bahrain Telecommunications Company too,on Monday,indicated that it might invest in some existing operators but that it was unlikely to participate in the auctions.

In fact,Uninor sought the Supreme Courts permission to file an interim application stating that Trais auction recommendations are not in line with the courts order. The court has allowed us to file an application and stated that it is open to hearing our arguments, it said in statement today.

Trai had,on April 23,recommended a base price of Rs 3,622 crore for a megahertz (Mhz) of pan-India spectrum,which is several times higher than the price at which 2G licences were allocated in 2008 under the then Telecom Minister A Raja. Trai also suggested that incumbent operators who hold the 900 Mhz band must relinquish it so that it can be refarmed,and instead pay to acquire the 1,800 Mhz band at a new base price.

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Vodafone,already in a spot over the governments plans to push through retrospective amendments to the Income Tax Act as part of the Union Budget proposals,has opposed the proposed refarming of the 900 Mhz spectrum band.

The regulators recommendations are not binding on the government,which has the final say on the auction modalities. The government expects to complete the auction rules by May-end,with the auction likely to take place by the end of August.