All eight applicants to bid for spectrum

With none of the telecom operators who have applied for participating in the upcoming spectrum auction withdrawing application, the government expects this year’s bidding to be highly successful.

With Tuesday being last day for withdrawal, none of the eight telecom operators have withdrawn their applications, said an official from the Department of Telecom.

“It seems that the government’s resolution on the contentious issue of spectrum usage fee seems to have found favour with telecom operators,” he added. Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Reliance Jio Infocomm, Idea Cellular, Telewings (Uninor) , Reliance Communications, Tata Teleservices and Aircel are in race to bid for about 403 MHz of airwave.

The government expects a minimum of Rs 11,300 crore in upfront payment from the upcoming auction of airwaves worth Rs 48,685 crore at the base price.