India's bandwidth auctions for third generation (3G) mobile telephone services will be held in February after being pushed back from their original date, an official said Thursday.
The official with the Department of Telecommunications who is involved in the auction process told Dow Jones Newswires the auctions "will be held in February."
The auctions for four slots of radio bandwidth, which have already been delayed several times, were previously scheduled for January 14 and a new date is to be posted on the ministry's website.
One slot is already reserved and will be shared by state-run telecom giant Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL) and Mahanager Telephone Nigam Ltd. (MTNL), another nationalised firm.
The Indian government has set 35 billion rupees (754 million dollars) as the starting price for one slot.
The government has said it aims to raise 250 billion rupees (5.38 billion dollars) from the sale of 3G bandwidth that would allow high-speed Internet, video downloads and other sophisticated services on cellular telephones.
The money raised from the auction is set to help plug a yawning fiscal deficit.
Last week, Telecommunications Minister A. Raja had assured that the auction would be held on time despite his ministry missing a deadline to send out invitations to potential bidders.
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