Government received about Rs 59,000 crore of bids in the ongoing auction of telecom spectrum at the end of the 8th day on Tuesday, with demand for the premium 900 Mhz band appearing to taper off.
"A total of 56 rounds are over. There is activity in five service areas. Total bids worth Rs 58,980.29 crore were received, which is about 23 per cent more than the total value of radiowaves put up for the auction from the base price," Telecom Secretary MF Farooqui said.
Bids worth Rs 35,390.67 crore have been received in 1800 MHz band, which is 100.6 per cent of its value at the base price, and Rs 23,589.62 crore in 900 Mhz, about 85 per cent higher. In an indication that bids are stabilising for the 900 Mhz band, no change was witnessed from yesterday in the price and bidding for the three circles of Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata.
The ongoing spectrum auction commenced for the eighth day on Tuesday entering the 50th round, with the government receiving bids worth Rs 58,332 crore. The price of 2G spectrum band quadrupled in Assam service area witnessed an aggressive bidding at Rs 26.95 crore per MHz
Bids worth Rs 34,743.2 crore have been received for 1800 MHz and Rs 23,589.62 crore for 900 MHz.The amount generated so far is about 86 per cent of what the 3G auction fetched in 2010. It had fetched the Government Rs 16,750.58 crore for 5 MHz of pan-India spectrum -- a total of Rs 67,718.95 crore.
The Government will now get at least Rs 17,362.66 crore in the current fiscal from the auction in case companies opt for instalment mode. The bidders can pay part of the money upfront and the remaining over a maximum of 10 yearly instalments. The present auction is the largest in terms of radiowaves on sale and the third-longest in terms of duration.
The 3G auction in 2010 lasted for 34 days, broadband wireless access (BWA) ended in 16 days. The 2G auction in November 2012, on the other hand, ended in just two days, while the CDMA auction in March last year concluded the same day.
There is no time limit for the sale of spectrum and the duration of the current auction will depend on the appetite of the eight companies in the fray -- Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Idea Cellular, Reliance Jio Infocomm, Aircel, Tata Teleservices, Telewings (Uninor) and Reliance Communications.