Day 11: Spectrum auction bids reach Rs 1,03,046 crore

Government's spectrum auction kitty today rose marginally to Rs 1,03,046 crore at the end of 11th day of the biggest sale of 2G and 3G airwaves.
There was no bidding activity for 2100 MHz, used for offering 3G services, today.
As per the Department of Telecom (DoT), over 87 per cent 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 103,046 crore. Majority of service areas are going at a premium over reserve price," DoT said.
The total auction proceeds stood at Rs 1,02,215 crore at the end of 10th day on Saturday with about 87 per cent of the airwaves provisionally allocated to bidders.

The DoT said six rounds of bidding were completed today. "There is robust bidding going on in 1800 MHz, 900 MHz and 800 MHz bands," it added.

The auction will continue tomorrow as about 13 per cent of spectrum is yet to be sold.
Sources said 800 MHz continued to witness aggressive bidding with price increment in 3 circles whereas one circle in 900 MHz and 2 circles in 1800 MHz saw price increment.
On a whole, 12-14 circles witnessed bidding activity today, sources said.
According to sources, bidding was seen in Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Kerala in 1800 MHz, and 900 MHz in West Bengal.

The 800 MHz 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 today in 2100 Mhz 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 380.75 MHz of spectrum is on offer in the premium 900 MHz band, 1,800 MHz and 800 MHz, 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.