New Delhi, July 31 - The high-powered ministerial group, set up to decide on issues related with the auction of frequency spectrum for third generation telecom services, is scheduled to meet here for the first time later Friday.

The mandate of the empowered group, which has been set up under Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, is to decide the base price for the spectrum auction and the number of operators to be allowed in each telecom circle for offering third generation, or 3G, services.

Based on the decision taken by the group, the government will decide when to auction the scarce spectrum, a process that has been delayed by over a year.

Third generation services allow telecommunications at much faster speeds, compared to what is provided now, to enable applications like Internet TV, video on demand, audio-video calls and high-speed data exchange among and between subscribers.

Other members of the group include Defence Minister A.K. Antony, Communications Minister A. Raja, Home Minister P. Chidambaram, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni, Law Minister M. Veerappa Moily and Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia.