It was a day of confusion, and yet a lot of clarity.
After all, at 5:30 pm the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) was to meet primarily to decide on the base price for auctioning 2G spectrum in the 1800MHz band. That one number would change the fortunes of quite a few telecom companies and that of thousands of telecom industry employees.
First it was postponed to 8:30 pm. Then it did not happen. Incidentally, there was no official comment on why it was postponed. Though nobody is willing to say it in so many words, it is believed that finance minister Pranab Mukherjee was not comfortable taking a decision on the issue just days before he files his candidature to be India's next President.
That decision will now have to be taken by the next finance minister, which in all likelihood would be Prime Minister Manmohan Singh himself.
Pranab's chances of becoming President depends on the support of Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav. So, the government would also not want to take a decision on pricing that would rankle Mulayam.
So, the process for fixing the reserve price has been delayed yet again. The losers in this are the new operators: Norway's Telenor and Russia's Sistema JSFC. Or will they be losers? Time will tell. Watch this space.
After all, at 5:30 pm the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) was to meet primarily to decide on the base price for auctioning 2G spectrum in the 1800MHz band. That one number would change the fortunes of quite a few telecom companies and that of thousands of telecom industry employees.
First it was postponed to 8:30 pm. Then it did not happen. Incidentally, there was no official comment on why it was postponed. Though nobody is willing to say it in so many words, it is believed that finance minister Pranab Mukherjee was not comfortable taking a decision on the issue just days before he files his candidature to be India's next President.
That decision will now have to be taken by the next finance minister, which in all likelihood would be Prime Minister Manmohan Singh himself.
Pranab's chances of becoming President depends on the support of Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav. So, the government would also not want to take a decision on pricing that would rankle Mulayam.
So, the process for fixing the reserve price has been delayed yet again. The losers in this are the new operators: Norway's Telenor and Russia's Sistema JSFC. Or will they be losers? Time will tell. Watch this space.
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