The government received bids worth Rs 399 billion on the first day of the third round of spectrum auction.
The first day of the spectrum auction witnessed aggressive bidding for spectrum in the 900 MHz band in various circles including Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai. Operators such as Bharti Airtel and Vodafone India put in their bids for acquiring spectrum in these circles as their licences are coming up for renewal by end of 2014 in these circles. These operators are also warding off competition from Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited (RJIL) which plans to acquire spectrum in these circles and launch services.
The government is expected to garner more than Rs 168 billion from the three circles ? Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai alone as the combined bid levels at the end of the day one of the spectrum auction was much higher than the cumulative base price of spectrum which was pegged at Rs 128.75 billion. Further, there was access demand for spectrum in the 1,800 MHz band in the Uttar Pradesh (West), Bihar and West Bengal circles, out of the total 22 circles where the spectrum has been put up for bidding.
In the current round of spectrum auction, eight players are in the fray. These include Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India, RJIL, Idea Cellular, Aircel, Loop Mobile, Tata Teleservices Limited and Telewings Communications. The operators are bidding for about 385 MHz of spectrum in the 1,800 MHz band and 46 MHz of spectrum in the 900 MHz band.
