First telecom spectrum auction in five years ended on Tuesday with Rs 77,814.80 crore of airwaves being bought, mostly by billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Jio.
Though the government put over 2,308.80 MHz of spectrum that carries telecom signals worth nearly Rs 4 lakh crore to auction, the telecom companies bought only 855.60 MHz of spectrum for Rs 77,814.80 crore.
Reliance Jio emerged to be the biggest bidder by acquiring a total of 488.35 MHz of spectrum for Rs 57,122.65 crore, followed by Bharti Airtel with 355.45 MHz at Rs 18,698.75 crore, and Vodafone Idea with 11.80 MHz for Rs 1,993.40 crore, Telecom Secretary Anshul Prakash said.
Read | Airtel acquires 355.45 MHz spectrum worth Rs 18,699 cr in auction
The secretary said that out of the total 2308.80 MHz of spectrum put for auction, the government has received bids for 855.60 MHz.
The department of telecommunications (DoT) aimed to raise at least Rs 3.92 lakh crore by auctioning the entire spectrum.
Interestingly there were only three bidders - Airtel, Vi, and Reliance Jio - this year, as against seven bidders during the last spectrum auction in 2016.
Jio has acquired spectrum in 22 circles across India in the 800 MHz, 1800 MHz and 2300 MHz bands for Rs 5,77,123 crore.
"With our increased spectrum footprint, we are ready to further expand the digital footprint in India as well as get ourselves ready for the imminent 5G rollout," Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani said.
Bids were received in 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz and 2300 MHz bands but there were no takers for the airwaves in the premium 700 and 2500 MHz bands.
On Monday, Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the response was more than expected for the auction.
(Published 02 March 2021, 15:17 IST)
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