Operators including Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India, Idea Cellular and Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited (RJIL), have deposited over Rs 115 billion as bank guarantees for participating in the auction beginning February 3, 2014.
The bank guarantee amount is over Rs 115.34 billion, a target that the government had expected to earn from the forthcoming spectrum auction. Now, the government is hopeful that aggressive bidding could push the final revenue generated to close to nearly Rs 410 billion.
As per the industry estimates, Bharti Airtel has deposited the highest amount of bank guarantees worth Rs 37 billion while Vodafone India has submitted bank guarantees worth Rs 28 billion to the Department of Telecommunications.
Other bidders, including RJIL, Tata Teleservices Limited, Aircel and Telewings Communications – the Indian unit of Norway’s Telenor – have reportedly submitted a total bank guarantee of over Rs 8 billion.
