With the last date for withdrawing applications for participation in the February 3 spectrum auction passing away, none of the eight bidders has stepped back. As per the final list of bidders given by the Department of Telecom (DoT) includes Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Reliance Jio Infocomm Idea Cellular, Telewings (Uninor) , Reliance Communications (RCom), Tata Teleservices and Aircel. With the last two spectrum auctions falling flat, the Government is aiming to raise Rs 11,300 crore from this round of spectrum auction.
There were no withdrawals of applications, for which the last day was yesterday. Three companies were found to be ineligible to bid in some service areas. Vodafone India will not be able to bid in seven circles, RCom in eight and Tata Teleservices in the Delhi area.
Airtel has deposited earnest money of Rs 3,700.25 crore for the auction, Vodafone Rs 2,800 crore and Reliance Jio Rs 2,596.25 crore, according to the DoT list. Airtel had approached the DoT on Tuesday seeking to reduce its bank guarantees by about a fifth to Rs 2,900 crore. Idea Cellular deposited Rs 1,567.50 crore, Uninor Rs 330 crore, RCom Rs 198.75 crore, Tata Teleservices Rs 267 crore and Aircel Rs 100 crore.
With the issues of spectrum usages charges (SUC) cleared after the Empowered Group of Ministers on telecom decided to levy an annual SUC on new airwaves for mobile services at 5 per cent of adjusted gross revenue, no withdrawal seems to be good news. In he upcoming auction, Government will offer 403 MHz of airwaves in the 1800 MHz band and 46 MHz in the 900 MHz band in the auction and expects a minimum of Rs 11,300 crore in upfront payments from the auction of airwaves, which are worth Rs 48,685 crore at the base price.