The Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) which met for the time on Thursday under the chairmanship of the Home Minister P Chidambaram allowed the mortgage of spectrum but fell short of clarity on implementation. The panel again failed to decide on the contentious issue of spectrum pricing.

Apart from the decision on base or reserve price  the panel will take a call on one-time fee for companies holding extra spectrum and network rollout obligations in the next meeting on Monday, telecom minister Kapill Sibal told reporters after the meeting. Minister said the panel will meet again early next week.

The decision taken by this EGoM will set the tone for telecom industry which is facing uncertainty and threat from foreign investors to exit from country if the decision does not suits them.

The meeting on Thursday was expected to decide on crucial issues such as pricing of spectrum, a one-time fee, roll-out obligations, terms of payment and the timeline for selecting an auctioneer for the 2G spectrum auction that the Supreme Court ordered early this year while cancelling 122 licences allotted by then Telecom Minister A. Raja in 2008.