India’s spectrum auctions to offer Rs 5.63 lakh cr worth airwaves

The Dollar Business Bureau

Mobile airwaves to the tune of Rs 5.63 lakh crore are up for grabs at India’s largest spectrum auctions which began on Saturday.

The airwaves, which are necessary for next generation telecom services, will be auctioned among the likes of Reliance Jio, Vodafone, Idea Cellular, Bharti Airtel. Companies such as Tata Teleservices, Reliance Communications and Aircel will also be competing in the race to buy the spectrum.

The auctions will take place between 9 am and 7 pm every day except for the first day when it starts at 10 am. The results of the bidding will be released every day at the end of the auctions.

It should be noted that the 3G auctions conducted in the 2100 Mhz band held in 2010 lasted for 34 days making it the longest spectrum auction so far. All spectrum auctions have been conducted on the same model.

The present auction will be a bid for a total of 2,354.55 megahertz (MHz) of frequencies in seven bands – 700 Mhz, 800 Mhz, 900 Mhz, 1800 Mhz, 2100 Mhz, 2300 Mhz and 2500 MHz. The spectrum can be used for 2G, 3G and high-speed 4G mobile services.

The bids will be beneficial for Vodafone and Idea for expanding their 4G base in the country and get a competitive edge in the market.

While Idea has 4G spectrum in 10 out of 22 telecom circles in the country, Vodafone provides 4G services in nine telecom circles. The likes of Jio, Airtel and RCom already have pan-India 4G presence.

The government has fixed a pan-India reserve price of Rs 2,873 crore for spectrum in 1,800 MHz band, Rs 3,341 crore for 900 MHz, Rs 5,819 crore for 800 MHz, Rs 3,746 crore for 2,100 MHz, Rs 11,485 crore for 700 MHz and Rs 817 crore for 2,300 MHz and 2,500 MHz bands respectively.