2G auction ends with only Rs9,400 cr garnered
15 Nov 2012
The 2G spectrum auction did not quite end on the first day, as Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman of Bharti Airtel, had predicted. It continued yesterday, but ended soon after opening, with the government garnering a total of Rs9,407 crore from it – a far cry from the Rs40,000 crore that it had initially hoped for.
At the end of seven rounds of bidding on Monday, the total earning was Rs9,224.75 crore. The eighth round took place yesterday thanks to a sudden upsurge of interest in the Bihar circle, but ultimately got the government less than Rs20 crore more.
The government was targeting Rs 28,000 crore from the sale of 2G spectrum in the GSM band, and Rs12,000 crore from the CDMA band. But the CDMA auction proved a non-starter as the two companies that had evinced initial interest – Tata Teleservices and Videocon – both pulled out last week.
Furthermore, as the government has promised to refund the license fees paid by companies whose permits were cancelled, the net gain to the exchequer may be almost nil according to some observers.
At the end of bidding today, Videocon and Idea won spectrum in seven seven circles each, while Telenor, bidding under its new Indian avatar of Telewings, got spectrum in four circles. Airtel and Vodafone won spectrum in one circle each.
Bids in most of the circles were around the base price with the exception of Uttar Pradesh East, UP West, and now Bihar.
