India’s biggest auction of telecom spectrum ended on a whimper on Thursday with just Rs 65,789 crore of bids coming in over five days against an expectation of Rs 5.6 lakh crore, leaving nearly 60 per cent of airwaves, including premium 4G bands, unsold.
UK-based Vodafone’s India unit was the most aggressive, taking home Rs 20,000 crore worth of spectrum. Bharti Airtel, the nation’s biggest telecom company, bought Rs 14,244 crore worth of spectrum, while Idea Cellular put in Rs 12,798 crore of bids.
Newcomer Reliance Jio has spent Rs 13,672 (rpt) 13,672 crore on spectrum buying.
Telecom Minister Manoj Sinha said bids were received for 964.80 MHz of spectrum out of 2,354.55 MHz across seven bands put on offer.
“The total upfront payment to the Government is about Rs 32,000 crore which is the highest in the last five years. Wherever operators wanted to improve their data services, they participated. Total, we could sell 964.80 MHz of spectrum,” Telecom Minister Manoj Sinha told reporters here
Asked if he was disappointed with the muted response, Sinha said he was happy with fact that the Government will get the highest upfront payment received in the last five years.
Premium 700 MHz and 900 MHz spectrum found no takers, mainly because of high reserve or auction start price set by the Government.
While Airtel acquired 173.8 Mhz spectrum across 1800/2100/2300 MHz bands, Idea Cellular won 2100 Mhz band spectrum in Mumbai circle.
"Airtel now has a solid spectrum portfolio that will enable it to continue leading India's data revolution. We will continue to invest towards making world-class and affordable data services available to customers in every corner of the country," Bharti Airtel MD and CEO (India and South Asia) Gopal Vittal said.
Reliance Jio official did not disclose the amount the company put in the auction and only said “the Government process is not yet complete.”
Reliance Jio said it has acquired 269.2 MHz spectrumacross all 22 circles.
"We have expanded our spectrum footprint thereby significantly enhancing capacity of our all-IP data strong network and ensuring world class services for all Indians. Jio is committed to taking India to global digital leadership by bringing the power of data to all Indians," Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani said.
Idea said it has procured 349.2 MHz of spectrum for Rs 12,798 crore securing additional airwaves in 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz and 2500 MHz bands.
According to sources, Tata Teleservices shelled out Rs 4,500 crore for securing spectrum. It has also managed to retain spectrum in Mumbai, where its licence is set to expire next September.
Spectrum in 1800 Mhz can be used for 2G/4G services, while 2100 Mhz band supports 3G/4G services. The 2500 Mhz is a 4G band, 2300 Mhz (4G) and 800 Mhz (2G/4G).
Telecom operators were in the race to arm themselves with spectrum to maintain competitive edge in providing quality and next generation mobile services to consumers in the world's second largest telecom market.
The auction, which commenced on October 1, was spread over five days and 31 rounds.
"The issue of quality of service, spectrum scarcity in India is history with this auction. Government has not done any profiteering, this auction was about putting spectrum in the hands of the industry. The appetite of the industry has been satiated," Telecom Secretary JS Deepak said.
The Government sold the entire available spectrum in the 2300MHz band, while 700MHz and 900MHz remained untouched.