Day 10: Spectrum auction bids marginally up at Rs 1.02 lakh cr

Bids for telecom spectrum rose marginally to Rs 1,02,215 crore at the end of the 10th day of the auction today, and radiowaves allocated provisionally did not witness any increase.

As per the Department of Telecom, at the end of 61st round, about 87 per cent of the spectrum has been provisionally allocated to bidders.

The total auction proceeds were Rs 1,01,432 crore till yesterday, with the sale of about 87 per cent of the available spectrum in various bands.

"The provisional amount committed by bidders at the end of 61st round is Rs 1,02,215 crore. Majority of service areas are going at a premium over reserve price," DoT said.

Bidding was seen for all the four frequency bands today with requirements set at 100 per cent. There was no bidding in Mumbai, Delhi and Andhra Pradesh in 2100 MHz band till now.

"There is robust bidding going on in 1800 MHz, 900 MHz and 800 MHz bands. The competitive bidding is expected to continue," DoT added.

According to sources, bidding was seen in Haryana in 1800 MHz, and 900 MHz in West Bengal.
However, 800 MHz continue to witness good bidding with activity in six circles of North East, Maharshtra, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Assam and Andhra Pradesh.

The bidding would recommence on Monday as there is still spectrum left to be sold.
Incumbents Bharti Airtel and Vodafone are locked with Reliance Jio to protect their spectrum they need to carry voice and data in the world's second-biggest smartphone market. In all, eight bidders are in the fray.

The government is not disclosing the names of the successful bidders as yet as a case is pending before the Supreme Court. The next hearing on the case is on March 26.

A total of 380.75 MHz of spectrum is on offer in the premium 900 MHz band, 1,800 MHz and 800 MHz, while 5 MHz is up for bidding in the 2,100 MHz band across 17 out of 22 telecom areas or circles in the country.

The 3G and BWA auction together fetched the government over Rs 1.05 lakh crore in 2010. The government had raked in Rs 62,162 crore from the last spectrum auction held in February 2014.