Finance minister firm on 3G auction in FY10

Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee has decided to push ahead with the third-generation (3G) mobile spectrum auction within the current financial year ending March 31, the Financial Express newspaper reported on Friday, citing unnamed sources.                                           

The auction was set to begin from Jan 14, but telecom minister Andimuthu Raja said on Jan 12 some of the differences with the defence ministry were yet to be resolved and that a new date had not been agreed upon.                                             

Media reports have said that the auction had been postponed to the next financial year.                                            

The auction would now be conducted in the second half of March, with the entire process compressed into 15 days against the earlier scheduled one-and-a-half months, the report said citing unnamed sources.                                           

The government, which is fighting a 16-year high fiscal deficit, is targeting to raise around Rs350 billion ($7.53 billion) through the auction.                                           

It hopes to use the proceeds to partly cut down the fiscal deficit, estimated to touch 6.8% of the gross domestic product in 2009-10.