The DoT today issued the long-awaited notice inviting applications (NIA) from interested players keen on participating in the 3G spectrum and Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) spectrum auctions.

According to the NIA issued by DoT, such players have time till March 19, 2010 to submit their applications. The publication of ownership details of applications will be done on March 23, 2010. The schedule of the auction process for 3G spectrum stretches till April 09, 2010 when the actual e-auctions will take place.

The BWA spectrum auctions will be conducted 2 days from the close of the 3G auction.

Most importantly according to the newly released NIA, the government has decided to auction slots as per their availability in each circle. The move results in five circles namely Punjab, Wes Bengal, Himachal Pradesh, Bihar and Jammu & Kashmir witnessing 3G spectrum auction of 4 slots of 5 MHz each.

The other 17 circles will have 3 slots for auctioning.

For BWA, the government has decided to restrict it to only 2.3 GHz band with each block of 20 MHz each. There will be two slots up for auctions.

“Not more than one block of 3G spectrum and one block of BWA spectrum shall be allocated to any single bidder in a service area” says the DoT NIA.

The government has also stated that spectrum for backhaul connectivity maybe provided. But the same will not be related to the auctions and operators will have to separately avail the backhaul spectrum.

Successful bidders will be issued letters of Intent (LoI) by DoT. The successful bidders will be allowed to commercially rollout their 3G services only from September 01, 2010.

In case the government goes on further auctioning of 3G spectrum, the reserve price will be same as the amount bid by the highest bidder in the upcoming auctions.

While recent reports suggested that the government might allow part payment of bid amount, the actual NIA stipulates that the full payment will have to made within 10 days of completion of relevant auctions.