3G Spectrum revenue crosses Rs 65K cr; National licence at Rs 16,164 cr
3G Spectrum revenue crosses Rs 65K cr; National licence at Rs 16,164 cr
3G Spectrum
A pan-India licence bid for the 3G spectrum touched Rs 16,164 crore on Monday, on the 32nd day of the auctions, amid indications that it may end in the next two days as there is excess demand only in four circles.
At this price, the government is assured of Rs 65,311 crore in revenues from the sale of third generation radio waves alone, against an estimated Rs 35,000 crore for 3G and broadband wireless access (BWA) together.
Among individual circles, Delhi saw the highest bid of Rs 3,155.97 crore, followed by Mumbai at Rs 3,089.50 crore.
The reserve price for pan-India spectrum was Rs 3,500 crore.
With excess demand for spectrum only in a few circles such as Delhi, Kolkata, Punjab and Bihar, the auction may end in the next two days, sources in the Department of Telecom (DoT) said on Monday.
Nine leading mobile operators, including Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, RCom and the Tatas, are up against one another to grab spectrum.
The government is selling three blocks of spectrum in most states and four slots in Punjab, Bihar, Orissa, Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh.
Telecom minister A Raja had recently expressed confidence that the government might garner up to Rs 55,000 crore from the 3G and BWA spectrum auctions.
After the closure of the auction for 3G, the government would start the auction for BWA, for which as many as 11 operators are in the fray.
The reserve price for BWA spectrum has been fixed at Rs 1,750 crore and only two slots of 20 MHz each are on the block.
Third generation (3G) telephony allows subscribers to download data at high speed and stream videos on mobile phones.
Radio waves are being auctioned across 22 circles and bidding would be closed once the price is discovered in all the service areas simultaneously.
