Spectrum auction: Rs 50k cr bids on Day 3

With the aggressive bidding by telecom companies in the on going 2G spectrum auction, the government stands to get Rs 50,000 crore at the end of third day on Wednesday.

In all, 21 rounds of bidding were concluded by end of day 3 with bids pouring in for all the 22 circles or regional zones.

"Bids of around Rs 50,000 crore received at the end of 21 rounds on third day of spectrum auction," Telecom Secretary M F Farooqui told reporters here.

"Besides 900 Mhz band, now demand for 1800 Mhz in many circles also picked up.  We will continue with auction tomorrow," he said.

Aggressive bidding was seen for the 900 MHz, which is in short supply and is being auctioned in just three cities, Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata -- markets where licences of Bharti and Vodafone are to expire in November unless they buy the radiowaves in this round of auction.

After 21 rounds, the government has received bids worth Rs 20,000 crore for 900 MHz band and Rs 30,000 crore for 1800 MHz band.

Farooqui said the government will get at least Rs 15,000 crore in the current fiscal based on the bids received at the end of third day, even if the bidders opt to pay the final auction price in installments.

Eight companies –Reliance Jio Infocomm, Vodafone, Airtel, Aircel, Tata Teleservices, Idea Cellular, Telewings (Uninor) and Reliance Communications – are in fray for spectrum that they will have the right to use for 20 years.