India's government plans to hold an international auction for third-generation telecoms services in the world's second-largest mobile phone market, with the minimum price for a pan-India licence set at Rs20bn ($472m).

Yet, Andimuthu Raja, communications and information technology minister, said only two private operators, alongside a state-owned firm, would get licences for New Delhi, the capital, and Mumbai, the financial centre, because of the shortage of spectrum there.