The government looks at 3G telecom licensing as a means to raise revenue. It might end up killing the nascent industry
How much is too much? Do you factor in future trends or go with the current flow? The telecom ministry would have grappled with these questions when it fixed Rs. 3,500 crore as the reserve auction price for each of the four pan-India spectrum licences for third-generation (3G) telecom services that it plans to auction. This price is nearly double the entry fee that companies like Unitech paid in 2007 in the second-generation era. This is where the questions crop up.
(This story appears in the 25 September, 2009 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)