Telecom spectrum auction resumes with bidding in all four bands

The telecom spectrum auction resumed on Thursday with seven rounds of bidding for all fours bands by telecom operators in first few hours, after the government received bids worth over Rs 60,000 crore on Wednesday - the first day.

Seven rounds have been completed as of now with bidding in all the four bands, a source said.

With the biggest ever spectrum auction of 2G and 3G airwaves, the government expects to raise about Rs 1 lakh crore from the auction. The value of spectrum put on sale is Rs 82,000 crore at the base price.

Asian brokerage firm CLSA said in a report that at the end of day one, the spectrum in 900 MHz was already 32 per cent above the reserve price and there was excess demand in 5 out of 17 circles. However, despite limited blocks on offer, 2100 MHz and 1800 MHz bands saw 1-2 per cent price increase with no bids in select key circles.

The 800MHz band saw limited interest with price increase in only 2 circles, CLSA said.

In a surprise, large data markets of Delhi, Mumbai, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh saw no price increase in 2100MHz band, despite only one block of available spectrum, the brokerage added.

A total of 380.75 MHz of spectrum in three bands - the premium 900 MHz band, 1,800 MHz and 800 MHz - has been put on sale besides 5 MHz in the 2,100 MHz band across 17 out of 22 telecom areas in the country.

Incumbent Bharti Airtel and Vodafone are locked in a battle with Mukesh Ambani's upstart carrier Reliance Jio to protect their spectrum they need to carry voice and data in the domestic smartphone market, which is the second-biggest in the world.

A total of eight bidders are in fray for the spectrum. The government had raked in Rs 62,162 crore from the last spectrum auction held in February 2014.