JOIN USThe second round of 2G spectrum auction for CDMA services will start on Monday and it may last just an hour as Russian conglomerate Sistema’s Indian unit SSTL is the only bidder.
Auction rounds are scheduled to take place between 9 am 7 pm on Monday, as per an official document. The government has put on block CDMA spectrum worth Rs 6,400 crore.
According to provisions, the auction can extend beyond 60 minutes only if there are competing bids and Monday’s auction could end as the shortest online sale of radiowaves in terms of time consumed.
The auction for 2G spectrum for GSM players held in November last year was spread across three days fetching the government Rs 9,407 crore.
The CDMA sale did not take place in November as there was no participant due to high cost.
The government has since then reduced the spectrum base price by 50 per cent but still no company, except SSTL, has shown any interest.
In 2010, spectrum auction for 3G services ended after 34 days and 183 rounds of bidding. This was followed by 16-day long auction for wireless broadband (BWA) spectrum.
Auction for 3G and BWA spectrum had fetched the government over Rs 1 lakh crore.
Sistema Shyam Teleservices Ltd (SSTL) has deposited Rs 613.75 crore for the auction, according to information disclosed by DoT. This makes the company eligible to bid for minimum quantum of 2.5 Megahertz spectrum (two blocks of 1.25 Mhz airwaves frequency) in 11 circles.