Spectrum Auction Bids Reach Rs. 1,03,046 Crores at End of Day 11

There was no bidding activity for the 2100MHz band, used for offering 3G services, on Monday.

As per the Department of Telecom (DoT), over 87 percent spectrum has been provisionally allocated to telecom firms at the end of 67 rounds.

"The provisional amount committed by bidders at the end of 67th round is Rs. 1,03,046 crores. Majority of service areas are going at a premium over reserve price," DoT said.

The total auction proceeds stood at Rs. 1,02,215 crores at the end of 10th day on Saturday with about 87 percent of the airwaves provisionally allocated to bidders.

The DoT said six rounds of bidding were completed on Monday.

"There is robust bidding going on in 1800MHz, 900MHz and 800MHz bands," it added.

The auction will continue tomorrow as about 13 percent of spectrum is yet to be sold.

Sources said 800MHz continued to witness aggressive bidding with price increment in 3 circles whereas one circle in 900MHz and 2 circles in 1800 MHz saw price increment.

On a whole, 12-14 circles witnessed bidding activity on Monday, sources said.

According to sources, bidding was seen in Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Kerala in the 1800MHz band, and the 900MHz band in West Bengal.

The 800MHz band continued to witness good bidding with activity in six circles of Delhi, Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Kolkata, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and North East.

There was, however, no activity on Monday in the 2100MHz band, used for offering 3G services. Three circles in the band, namely Andhra Pradesh, Delhi and Mumbai have failed to draw bids so far in the auction, though others have seen bidding earlier.

Incumbents Bharti Airtel and Vodafone are locked with Reliance Jio to protect their spectrum they need to carry voice and data in the world's second-biggest smartphone market. In all, eight bidders are in the fray.

The government is not disclosing the names of the successful bidders as yet as a case is pending before the Supreme Court. The next hearing on the case is on March 26.

A total of 380.75MHz of spectrum is on offer in the premium 900MHz band, 1800MHz and 800MHz, while 5MHz is up for bidding in the 2100MHz band across 17 out of 22 telecom areas or circles in the country.

Most of the spectrum put up for auction is presently held by Airtel, Vodafone, Idea Cellular and Reliance Telecom. Their licences are expiring in 2015-16.

Mobile licences for nine circles of Idea Cellular, six circles of Airtel and seven circles each of Vodafone and Reliance Telecom are coming up for renewal.

Overall, there are 29 licences in 18 service areas which will expire in 2015-16. These licences hold 184MHz spectrum in the 900MHz band and 34.2MHz in 1800MHz band.

It is mandatory for these companies to bid for spectrum if they have to continue offering mobile and other telecom services as their permit is expiring.

The 3G and BWA auction together fetched the government over Rs. 1,05,000 crores in 2010. The government had raked in Rs. 62,162 crores from the last spectrum auction held in February 2014.