India’s Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has published its official timetable for the award of 3G licenses in the country, including a breakdown of how 3G spectrum will be allocated across India’s various telecoms circles. As widely expected, state-owned operators BSNL and MTNL have been reserved one block of 2x5Mhz in each circle (with the exception of Rajasthan, which will have no 3G spectrum available at all), but the number of blocks of spectrum available in the private auction differs depending on the circle. In the majority of service areas, 25Mhz of paired frequency bandwidth is available, which means four blocks of 2x5Mhz spectrum is available for auction in addition to the block reserved for the state-owned operators. However, spectrum is limited in many other areas, including in the major metro circle of Delhi where just two 2x5Mhz blocks will be available to private operators. All 3G spectrum will be in the 2.1Ghz frequency band while a separate auction for so-called ‘Broadband Wireless Access’ (BWA) spectrum will take place in the 2.3Ghz and 2.5Ghz bands, which is deemed suitable for WiMAX. In both auctions, bidders are restricted to just one block of spectrum per service area.

According to the DoT’s official auction timetable, the deadline for 3G license applications is January 5. A mock auction will take place on January 12-13 prior to the real auction starting on January 16. The BWA auction will begin two days after the 3G auction has finished. In line with India’s current telecoms regulations, the level of foreign investment in the licensee company is capped at 74 percent. In an effort to make it easier for prospective bidders to raise the required funds to bid for spectrum, the DoT also said it has relaxed its External Commercial Borrowing (ECB) guidelines to permit ECB of up to US$500 million to finance spectrum acquisition fees. The full DoT document can be viewed here.