Besides, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone India, four other operators, Idea Cellular, Reliance Communications, Aircel and Uninor have submitted their applications for participating in the forthcoming spectrum auction scheduled for February 3, 2014.
All these players are keen on bidding for spectrum in the 900 MHz band. For the upcoming auction, January 15, 2014 was the last date for submission of applications for bidding for spectrum in the 1800 MHz band and the 900 MHz band in the Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai circles. The operators can withdraw their applications by January 27, 2014.
The government is putting up about 403 MHz of 2G spectrum in the 1,800 MHz band and about 45 MHz of spectrum in the 900 MHz band for auction. A total revenue target of Rs 408.74 billion from spectrum auction has been set, including auction amount, one-time spectrum fee and the annual licencing fee in 2014.
