3G bids near Rs55,000-crore mark; Mumbai, Delhi inch towards Rs2,500-crore

India yesterday concluded 148 rounds of an auction to award spectrum for third generation (3G) telecom services in the country, with the government's provisional revenue from the sale of airwaves nearing the Rs55,000 crore ($12.2 billion) mark and the nationwide licence price reaching Rs.13473.55 crore ($3 billion). The provisional winning price for the pan-India 3G licence was around 285 percent higher than the Rs.3,500 crore reserve price fixed by the government.

At the end of the 26th day of the auction, which began on 9 April, the government's provisional revenue from the 3G auction stood at Rs54,378.39 crore, which is well above the amount it had expected.

Data on the DoT's website showed that Mumbai continued to attract the highest bids at Rs2,433.88 crore. The provisional winning price for Delhi stood at Rs2,372.97 crore, followed by Karnataka at Rs1,402.13 crore, Tamil Nadu at Rs1,287.24 crore and Maharashtra at Rs1,150.12 crore. Till Friday, Maharashtra had been ahead of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

While Bihar, Mumbai, Delhi, Punjab, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh witnessed more players in fray than the number of slots available, Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal and Rajasthan could not attract enough bidders.

Earlier, the government had said that it hoped to rake in Rs.55,000 crore ($12.2 billion) from both the 3G auction and the rolling out of broadband wireless internet services in the country.

But with the aggressive bidding in few circles, the government is poised to get more than the estimated amount from the 3G auction alone.