 "Delhi and Assam circles emerge favourites")
The price of 900 MHz spectrum in Delhi jumped 90.37 per cent to Rs 684.68 crore per 1 MHz of airwave in the 900 MHz band, compared with the original reserve price. However, there was no excess demand in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata telecom zones for spectrum in 900 MHz.
The price in Kolkata increased less than one per cent compared with the previous day.
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) said the total value of bids was Rs 54,600 crore after 35 rounds, more than what it had made by selling 20 MHz of 3G spectrum to private operators in 2010. The auction will continue on Saturday.
The average increase of spectrum price in the 900 MHz band stood at 72.55 per cent at the end of the fifth day compared with the original reserve price the government had set.
The government has already crossed the year's Budget target of Rs 11,343 crore.
However, demand for spectrum in the Mumbai circle (5 MHz of 16 MHz) did not increase on the fifth day, while there was improvement in the Delhi (15 MHz of 16 MHz) and Kolkata (full demand) circles.
In the 1800 MHz band, there was excess demand in Assam, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh (west).
Price of 1800MHz spectrum increased (compared with original base price) the most in Assam by 125.71 per cent, UP-west (43.14 per cent, Gujarat (39.40 per cent), Maharashtra (31.38 per cent), Delhi (28.9 per cent), West Bengal (17.14 per cent), Bihar (16.48 per cent), Madhya Pradesh (5.69 per cent) and UP-east (4.9 per cent) at the end of the fifth day of spectrum auction.
On an average, prices of 1800 MHz spectrum increased 15.21 per cent compared with the base price.