Spectrum bids cross Rs1-lakh crore at end of eighth day

The government had received commitments totalling more than Rs1,00,000 crore from telecom operators at the close of the eighth day of bidding for radio spectrum on Thursday, the Department of Telecommunications said.

The total commitments from the 49 rounds so far after eight days of aggressive bidding totalled Rs1,02,057 crore, a DoT official said. Thursday saw six rounds of bidding.

"The bidding is taking place in all bands. Brisk bidding was seen on 8th day of bidding, with activity requirement set at 100 per cent. There is aggressive bidding going on in all bands, that is, 2100MHz, 1800MHz, 900MHz and 800MHz bands," an official statement from the DoT said.

"At the end of 49th round, over 86 per cent of the spectrum has been provisionally allocated to bidders at a value of approximately Rs1,02,000 crore. 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 13, 2015 at 9 am," it added.

The seventh day (Wednesday) saw total bids worth Rs96,000 crore after 43 rounds.

The commitments come over and above the Rs2,00,000 crore that telecom firms 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 Rs43,161.72 crore from e-auctions of spectrum, for the current fiscal, while the reserve price for the entire spectrum on offer in four bands, across India, was around Rs80,000 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 Rs45 crore per block in the 1800MHz band. However, this circle saw 17 less bids.

The second highest bids of 75 were received for Odisha circle with a winning amount of Rs5.36 crores per block in the 1800MHz band. This circle also saw six 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 Rs20,435 crore, which is two-and-a-half times what had been called for.

The total spectrum put up for auction is 103.75MHz in 800MHz band, 177.8MHz in 900MHz band and 99.2MHz in 1800MHz band for second generation (2G) telephony. The government has also put up 5MHz in the 2100MHz band for third generation (3G) telephony.

The government had fixed a reserve price of Rs3,423 crore for per MHz for 800MHz frequency, Rs3,399 crore for 900MHz band and Rs1,425 crore for the 1800MHz band.

The government also fixed a reserve price of Rs3,511 crore per megahertz for the frequency for 3G spectrum.