Bids for spectrum grew to around Rs96,000 crore at the end of seventh day of auction today, after surprisingly dipping to Rs92,200 crore yesterday for the biggest-ever sale of 2G and 3G airwaves. "Till now, 43 rounds of bidding has taken place. At present, over 84 per cent of the spectrum has been provisionally allocated to bidders at a value of approximately Rs96,000 crore," the Department of Telecom said.
"The bidding is taking place in all bands. Brisk bidding was seen on 7th day of bidding, with activity requirement set at 100 per cent. There is aggressive bidding going on in 1800 MHz, 900 MHz and 800 MHz bands," the statement said. There is still spectrum which is yet to be sold in all the bands, including 900 Mhz which is the spectrum currently held by operators whose licences are expiring in 2015-16. "Bidding would recommence tomorrow," it added.
The government on Saturday had crossed the targeted minimum amount of Rs82,000 crore from sale of airwaves. Incumbents Bharti Airtel and Vodafone are locked with Reliance Jio to protect their spectrum they need to carry voice and data in the world's second-biggest smartphone market. In all, eight bidders are in the fray. Breaking down the bidding activity band wise, sources said so far in 800 MHz band, out of 20 circles that were put on sale, 14 circles have seen activity.