Dramatic end

The last day for submitting applications to participate in the coming telecom spectrum auction came to a dramatic close at around 5 pm on Monday. About 15 minutes before the cut off time for the submission of applications, the department of telecommunications (DoT) received an application from Mukesh Ambani-promoted telecom operator Reliance Jio. It was the last application, as other contenders - Airtel, Vodafone, Idea Cellular, Reliance Communications, Aircel, Uninor and Tata Teleservices - had submitted their applications the same day but much before the deadline. This last-minute entry is expected to make things tougher for the incumbents looking to retain spectrum in the 900-MHz band. For some inexplicable reason, moments before the last entry came in, DoT officials had asked waiting journalists to leave the floor without delay.