The third round of the spectrum auction has started on a positive note with the government receiving bids for all the 22 circles in the 1,800 MHz band and all three circles in the 900 MHz band.
The government has put up about 385 MHz of spectrum and 46 MHz of spectrum for auction in the 1,800 MHz and the 900 MHz spectrum bands respectively. On the first day of the spectrum auction, the government has conducted four rounds of bidding.
Eight operators including Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular, Loop Mobile, Aircel, Tata Teleservices, Vodafone India, Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited and Telewings Communications are participating in the spectrum auction. The government has set a total revenue target of Rs 408.74 billion from spectrum auction, including the auction amount, one-time spectrum fee and the annual licencing fee.
The auction started as planned following the Supreme Court?s refusal to step in and interfere with the decision of the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal, which dismissed some operators? (Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India and Idea Cellular) request to stay the spectrum auction and extend their existing licences by another 10 years.
