India moved another step closer towards entry of 3G and WiMAX services in the country with the government announcing the formation of a Group of Ministers (GoM) to take a final call on the policies and regulations pertaining to the two services.
Finance Minister, Pranab Mukherjee will head the GoM which will also include P Chidambaram, Sharad Pawar and A Raja.
The DoT is keen to involve GoM as it wants to project that the framing of policy guidelines is a collective decision. Earlier it had faced flak for taking some allegedly ad-hoc and earnest decisions on 2G spectrum allocation.
3G is finally expected to set foot in India on a large scale this year as the government estimates to net Rs 35,000 crore in revenues from 3G spectrum auction and is banking heavily on this to tide over the fiscal deficit.
Earlier in March this year, the government had formed a GoM to look into the issue. But with election dates being announced during the time, there was no headway or possibility of any talks or decisions being taken by the GoM. |