The successful WiMax bidders are unlikely to get spectrum immediately after the auction as the government may offer only ‘conditional licence’.

“The WiMax spectrum is not immediately available. We may offer conditional licence to the successful bidders, and that the spectrum would be given after six months or whenever it is be available,” department of telecom (DoT) secretary Siddhartha Behura told reporters on the sidelines of an event organised by the internet service providers association of India (Ispai).

The government had on Thursday announced that the auction for the third generation (3G) and WiMax spectrum is likely to happen in the next three months. Behura said that the auction for 3G and WiMax would be conducted simultaneously with a lag of 15 days.

He said the department of space (DoS) has raised the issue of interference between WiMax and satellite communications once the spectrum is allotted for commercial deployments. The DoS has already allotted 40 MHz of WiMax spectrum to DoT in the frequency band of 2.5 GHz. DoS has also informed the empowered group of ministers (eGoM) to auction the WiMax spectrum once the discussions are resolved over the interference between the bands.

“We have allotted WiMax spectrum to public sector telecom firm BSNL. The trials are also going on in Bangalore in 2.5 MHz band.

However, we hope to conduct 3G and WiMax auctions simultaneously,” he said. Behura added that the government would soon come out with a uniform and single licence fee for telecom service providers, which is between 6 and 10 per cent

of the revenue of these companies.

However, he declined to specify the figure. He said Subodh Kumar committee report of DoT has suggested de-linking spectrum from the licence and the same has been referred to telecom regulator Trai for its view.

WiMax is a telecommunications technology that provides wireless transmission of data. With Indian government planning to auction WiMax or broadband wireless access (BWA) spectrum, the country is likely to avail wireless broadband.