India bandwidth auction meeting deferred

A scheduled meeting of a panel of Indian ministers on the proposed auction of bandwidth to offer telecommunications services across the country has been deferred, a senior government official said Thursday.

Telecom Secretary R. Chandrashekhar didn't give a reason for the postponement of the crucial meeting or say when the meeting would be held.

The nine-member panel, headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, was expected to finalize the starting price for the keenly watched auction.

India is auctioning airwaves for mobile-phone services after the Supreme Court earlier this year canceled 122 licenses citing irregularities in their allocation. The court directed India's telecom regulator to frame new auction rules and the government to complete the spectrum sale by Aug. 31.

The auctions are crucial for companies such as Norway's Telenor ASA, Russia's Sistema JSFC, and local operators such as Idea Cellular Ltd., whose licenses have been ordered to be cancelled.

The postponement is likely to prolong the uncertainty among both local and foreign telecom operators who are already chafing over the policy flip-flop plaguing the industry.

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