Sunil Bharti Mittal pays a visit to FM Nirmala Sitharaman

Chairman of Bharti Enterprises Sunil Bharti Mittal met Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharman today. The development was confirmed by Sitharaman’s office in a tweet. The tweet read, “Shri Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman-Bharti Enterprises, calls on Smt Nirmala Sitharaman.”

The meeting comes a day after telecom regulator Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) recommended a 35 per cent cut in the reserve price for prime 5G spectrum frequencies in 3,300-3,670 MHz band at Rs 317 crore per MHz, 35 per cent lower than Rs 492 crore per MHz suggested by TRAI last time.

The telecom regulator said that available spectrum in the bands of 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 900 MHZ, 1,800 MHz, 2,100 MHz, 2,300 MHz, 2,500 MHz and the new spectrum bands of 600 MHz, 3,300-3,670 MHz and 24.25-28.5 GHz will be put to auction.

“To provide flexibility to the telecom service providers, block size of 10 MHZ for 3,300-3,670 MHZ band and 50 MHz for 24.25-28.5 GHz band recommended. Spectrum to be assigned in a contiguous manner,” it said in a statement accessed by news agency PTI.

TRAI said for long-term growth and sustainability of the telecom sector, infusing liquidity and encouraging investment, the telecom service providers should be allowed easy payment options, including part payment with flexibility of moratorium.

Spectrum auctions, to facilitate the 5G rollout, are scheduled to be conducted in 2022 by telecom providers.

RBI governor Shaktikanta Das and Global CEO of Diageo Ivan Meenzes also called on the Finance Minister separately. BusinessToday