Business
Government gets entire upfront payment from spectrum auction
New Delhi, April 9
The telecom firms have paid
the entire upfront payment amount of Rs.28,872 crore to the government
for the spectrum auction that took place in March, according to sources.
Thursday was the last day for the payment.
Idea
Cellular emerged as the top bidder in the latest round of auctions for
telecom spectrum with a total commitment of Rs.30,306 crore. Bharti
Airtel committed the second-highest amount of Rs.29,310 crore.
The
Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio, which was expected to bid aggressively
for the spectrum to start 4G services in the country, made a total
commitment of Rs.10,077 crore. Among the other players out of eight that
qualified, Vodafone bid Rs.25,959 crore, Tata Teleservices bid Rs.7,851
crore, and Reliance Communications bid Rs.4,299 crore. Uninor, however,
did not win any spectrum.
It is learnt that Tata Teleservices
and Reliance Communications have deposited the upfront payment amount on
Wednesday, while other operators deposited it on Thursday.
The
upfront payment due was - Idea Cellular, Rs.7,772.2 crore; Airtel,
Rs.7,832.20 crore; Vodafone, Rs.6,817.23 crore; Reliance Jio,
Rs.2,591.76 crore; Tata Teleservices, Rs.2,013.33 crore; Reliance
Communications, Rs.1,104.09 crore and Aircel, Rs.742.5 crore, according
to department of telecommunications.
The e-auction of radio
frequency spectrum, or airwaves, for telecom operators concluded on
March 25 after 19 days and 115 rounds of rigorous bidding with
commitments at Rs.109,874.91 crore -- the highest-ever.
This
amount can be considered as a windfall for the government as it has
surpassed the previous high of Rs.106,200 crore that it had received in
the 2010 auction, which was spread over 34 days with 183 rounds of
bidding.
On offer were blocks for 69 service areas at a total
reserve price of Rs.80,277 crore, and the provisional allocation was
announced for 63 of them at a winning price of Rs.109,874.91 crore. In
50 service areas, the winning bids went at a premium.