Bids for Spectrum goes high

• Posted by T Ghosh February 9, 2014 - Filed in Business - #Spectrum  - 1,970 views
  After 42 rounds on Saturday, bidding will continue on Monday, making the third auction the longest since November 2012, when the government began selling 2G airwaves according to the apex court's direction . The government can expect a minimum of 16,750 crore from these auctions, even if mobile phone companies take the option of paying part of the final bid price upfront, and the rest in 10 equal instalments after a two-year pause. This will exceed New Delhi's estimated budget from the spectrum sale for this financial year. The government has put on the block about 385 Mhz of spectrum in the 1800 Mhz band and 46 Mhz of airwaves in the 900 Mhz band.

   

  
  
  Prices for a block of 900 Mhz airwaves in Delhi were more than double its reserve price of 360 crore while Kolkata also saw some rise in its prices, though Mumbai's prices were stagnant for the second day running, a senior telecom department official said. Delhi and Kolkata's prices in 900 Mhz have already surpassed what operators paid for 3G airwaves in 2010. Prices in the Mumbai - which were the early movers in the sale which started February 3 - are currently close to the 3G levels. 

  During the day, demand in the 1800 Mhz band changed hands between Assam — where bids rose to three times the base price — Gujarat and Maharashtra. In the more efficient 900 Mhz band, demand for 10 blocks of the 16 up for sale in Delhi was seen while 12 of 14 blocks in Kolkata were being bid for by telcos. 
  The aggressive fight over the past six days by main bidders Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India, Idea Cellular and Reliance Jio Infocomm for the 900 Mhz band helped the government collect over 23,472 crore so far, more than double of what it expected from selling all spectrum in the ongoing bandwidth sale. 

   Telecom companies put in bids worth around 56,555 crore as on Saturday, the sixth day of the ongoing bandwidth auctions, with Delhi continuing to be the focus of an intense fight among Bharti Airtel, VodafoneIndia and Reliance Jio Infocomm.