Govt's spectrum auction kitty grows to Rs 1.09 lakh cr

The government's telecom spectrum auction kitty on Thursday rose marginally to reach Rs 1.09 lakh crore at the end of the 14th day with robust bidding taking place in the 800 MHz band.

The spectrum auction has already generated record amount in terms of the bids committed.

The Department of Telecom said: "The provisional amount committed by bidders at the end of 86th round is over Rs 1,09,000 crore... Over 89 per cent of spectrum has been provisionally allocated to bidders."

At the end of auction on Wednesday, the spectrum kitty had grown to Rs 1.08 lakh crore with about 89 per cent of radiowaves provisionally allocated to the bidders.

The government had got about Rs 1.06 lakh crore from the sale of 3G and BWA spectrum in 2010. In the auction held last year, the government netted Rs 62,162 crore.

The auction will continue tomorrow as there is still some spectrum left which is yet to be sold.

"Robust bidding is going on in 1800 Mhz and 800 Mhz bands and the competitive bidding is expected to continue," DoT said. Sources said five circles in 800 MHz, two circles in 1800 Mhz and one circle in 900 MHz witnessed bidding.

Delhi and Maharashtra circles in 800 MHz continue to witness aggressive bidding and have seen price increment which will be applicable in 87th round tomorrow morning.

Across all bands, 6-8 telecom circles witnessed activity. There was, however, no activity today in 2100 Mhz band.

Care Ratings in a report has said meanwhile that "the consumers will have to bear the brunt of tariff hikes which will become inevitable for the operators to realise returns on these huge investments".

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.

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.

A total of 380.75 MHz of spectrum is on offer in 900 MHz, 1,800 MHz and 800 MHz bands, while 5 MHz is up for bidding in the 2,100 MHz band across 17 out of 22 telecom areas or circles in the country.