Spectrum auction ends; govt receives bids worth over Rs 60k cr

The government has received bids worth over Rs 60,000 crore from the telecom spectrum auction which ended on 10th day today.

The auction for 900 Mhz and 1800 Mhz bands saw strong contest for the radiowaves among eight telecom companies, with the bidding stretching to 68 rounds.

"Spectrum auction has ended after 68 rounds," said an official source.

The bid value of the spectrum in the two bands, used for offering 2G services, has reached around 90 per cent of the money that the government had received in the 3G spectrum auction in 2010, which fetched Rs 67,718.95 crore.

The government will now get at least Rs 18,273 crore in the current fiscal ending on March 31 in case companies opt for instalment mode.

The government received bids for around 78 per cent of blocks in 1800 Mhz band, and 100 per cent in 900 Mhz band.

The bidding amount for 1800 Mhz has crossed its value of the reserve price, while for 900 Mhz the price rose by over 85 per cent.

The government had put on the block about 385 Mhz of spectrum in the 1800 Mhz band, and 46 Mhz in 900 Mhz band.

Eight companies participated in the auction, which include -- Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Idea Cellular, Reliance Jio Infocomm, Aircel, Tata Teleservices, Telewings (Uninor) and Reliance Communications.

Out of the five online spectrum auctions, the just-ended round was the largest in terms of radiowaves on sale, and third longest till date in terms of duration.

3G auction in 2010 lasted for 34 days, broadband wireless access (BWA) ended in 16 days. 2G auction in November 2012, on the other hand, ended in just two days, while the CDMA auction in March last year had concluded the same day.