The government received bids for around 78% of blocks in 1,800 Mhz band, and 100% in 900 MHz band that would help it to mop up over Rs61,000 crore from the auction
The Indian government has received bids worth over Rs61,000 crore from the telecom spectrum auction that ended on 10th day and after 68 rounds on Thursday.
The auction for 900 MHz and 1800 MHz bands saw strong contest for the radio waves among eight telecom companies, with the bidding stretching to 68 rounds.
“Spectrum auction has ended after 68 rounds,” said an official source.
The bid value of the spectrum in the two bands, used for offering 2G services, has reached around 90% of the money that the government had received in the 3G spectrum auction in 2010, which fetched Rs67,718.95 crore.
The government will now get at least Rs18,273 crore in the current fiscal ending on 31st March in case companies opt for instalment mode.
The government received bids for around 78% of blocks in 1800 MHz band, and 100% in 900 MHz band.
The bidding amount for 1800 MHz has crossed its value of the reserve price, while for 900 MHz the price rose by over 85%.
In the 900MHz band, Delhi was the most sought after circle where price increased by 106% to Rs740.96 crore as compared with the original reserve price of Rs359.65 crore. Prices have also increased in Mumbai (71.9%) and Kolkata (55.3%) as compared with the reserve price.
In the 1800MHz band, spectrum price has increased the most in Assam by more than 400% over the past 10 days.
The government had put on the block about 385 MHz of spectrum in the 1800 MHz band, and 46 MHz in 900 MHz band.
Eight companies participated in the auction, which include -- Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Idea Cellular, Reliance Jio Infocomm, Aircel, Tata Teleservices, Telewings (Uninor) and Reliance Communications.
Out of the five online spectrum auctions, the just-ended round was the largest in terms of radio waves on sale, and third longest till date in terms of duration.
The 3G auction in 2010 lasted for 34 days, broadband wireless access (BWA) ended in 16 days. 2G auction in November 2012, on the other hand, ended in just two days, while the CDMA auction in March last year had concluded the same day.
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