The government’s revenue from the auction of 3G and broadband wireless access (BWA) spectrum is all set to cross Rs 1 lakh crore, an almost three-fold increase over its initial projection of Rs 35,000 crore.
On the 12th day of BWA auction, the pan-India bid price reached Rs 10,652 crore, over six times the reserve price of Rs 1,750 crore.
While the total revenue from 3G and BWA auctions stood at Rs 99,675 crore as of today, the revenues from BWA auction, which is expected to end this week, have reached Rs 31,956 crore.
The government has already earned Rs 67,719 crore from the recently concluded 3G spectrum auction.
On the 12th day of BWA auction, Mumbai received the highest bid of Rs 1,804.30 crore, followed by Delhi at Rs 1,758.29 crore. Tamil Nadu came third with a bid of Rs 1,614.48 crore. All three circles have a reserve price of Rs 160 crore.
A total of 10 rounds were completed on Day 12. The activity level has already been set to 100 per cent.
BWA spectrum would enable Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) services in laptops and desktops, which would allow consumers to access the Internet at a very high speed.
As many as 11 companies including Bharti Airtel, Reliance WiMax, Idea Cellular, Aircel, Qualcomm, Tata Communications Internet Services, and Vodafone Essar are participating in the BWA auction — a simultaneous online bid for two slots in each of the country’s 22 service areas.
The government has already allocated BWA spectrum to Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd in their respective service areas and both will have to match the winning bid price.
