Business
Brisk bidding in spectrum auction; over Rs.1 lakh crore at Day Nine-end
New Delhi, March 13
The government had
received commitments totalling “over Rs.1 lakh crore†from telecom
operators at the end of bidding on Friday, the ninth day in radio
frequency spectrum e-auctions.
"The bidding is taking place in
all bands. Brisk bidding was seen on 9th day of bidding, with activity
requirement set at 100 percent. There is robust bidding going on in all
bands, that is, 2100 MHz, 1800 MHz, 900 MHz and 800 MHz bands," the
Department of Telecom said in a statement here.
The ninth day saw six rounds of fresh bidding.
"At
the end of the 55th round, over 87 percent of the spectrum has been
provisionally allocated to bidders. The provisional amount committed by
bidders at the end of the 55th round is over Rs.1 lakh crore," DoT said.
The statement, however, did not mention the exact amount committed by the bidders, which it had been disclosing earlier.
The
statement further added: "Majority of service areas are going at a
premium over reserve price. The competitive bidding is expected to
continue. There is still spectrum, which is yet to be sold. Bidding
would recommence tomorrow, that is, March 14, 2015 at 9 a.m."
The eighth day (Thursday) saw total bids worth Rs.102,057 crore after 49 rounds.
The
commitments come over and above the Rs.200,000 crore that India Inc has
already bid under the two phases of auctions for award of coal blocks.
But the proceeds from this auction will go to the respective state
governments over 30 years.
The central government has budgeted
for Rs.43,161.72 crore from e-auctions of spectrum for the current
fiscal while the reserve price for the entire spectrum on offer in the
four bands, across India, was around Rs.80,000 crore.
The bids so far have well exceeded these numbers.
The
maximum bids of 78 were received for Tamil Nadu circle with a winning
amount of Rs.45 crore per block in the 1800 MHz band. However, this
circle saw 17 less bids.
The second highest bids of 75 were
received for Punjab circle with a winning amount of Rs.72.15 crore per
block in the 900 MHz band. This circle also saw three less bids.
The
eight telecom service providers participating in the auctions are
Reliance Communications, Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India,
Tata Teleservices, Uninor, Idea Cellular and Aircel.
They have submitted earnest money of Rs.20,435 crore, which is two-and-a-half times what had been called for.
The
total spectrum put up for auction is 103.75 MHz in 800 MHz band, 177.8
MHz in 900 MHz band and 99.2 MHz in 1,800 MHz band for second generation
(2G) telephony. The government has also put up 5 MHz in the 2,100 MHz
band for third generation (3G) telephony.
The government had
fixed a reserve price of Rs.3,423 crore for per MHz for 800 MHz
frequency, Rs.3,399 crore for 900 MHz band and Rs.1,425 crore for the
1,800 MHz band. The government also fixed a reserve price of Rs.3,511
crore per megahertz for the frequency for 3G spectrum