New Delhi, Oct 27 : The auction of radio waves to start third generation (3G) telecom services in India will take place as scheduled, Minister of State for Communications and IT Sachin Pilot said here Tuesday.

"The 3G spectrum allocation process will go on as per schedule in January," Pilot told reporters on the sidelines of a business meet.   

His remarks comes amid controversies over the allottement of 2G spectrum to private telecom players last year.

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) last week announced that the auction of the 3G spectrum would be conducted in four stages -- invitation of the bid, pre-qualification, auction, and finally, the grant of spectrum.

The communications ministry would also hold a pre-bid conference Nov 16 and the mock auction Jan 11-12 next year.

Opposition parties have accused of large-scale irregularities in the 2G spectrum allocation and demanded the resignation of Communications and IT Minister A. Raja. (IANS)