"The decision will be taken shortly. I think the matter is being discussed and in the next 10 days or so, we will have the final decision," Scindia told PTI on the sidelines of a NIIT conference here.

The much-awaited auction of 3G spectrum has been delayed as the Department of Telecom (DoT) is yet to take the Cabinet's approval on the reserve price for radio frequency in the wake of differences among ministries.

The auction for the 3G spectrum and wireless broadband services (WiMAX) was scheduled from January 30.

The decision is now awaiting approval from the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA).

The Ministry of Finance had rejected DoT's reserve price of Rs 2,020 crore for pan-India 3G spectrum and had asked the department to double it, while the Ministry of Industry and Ministry of IT had endorsed DoT's price.

The new dates will be the second time that the DoT has postponed the auction after announcing the dates on December 12, 2008.

Earlier, the auction was to begin on January 16, but was then postponed by two weeks to January 30. The final date for receiving applications was January 15.