Saturday, 14 March 2015 - 6:30am IST | Place: New Delhi | Agency: dna | From the print edition
On the ninth day of the spectrum auction, the total bid value remained over Rs 1 lakh crore as telecom companies (telcos) went after airwaves in the 800 Mega Hertz (MHz) band as they look to cash in from data consumption explosion projected by internet survey firms.
After 55 rounds of bidding, the government's provisional revenue earning on Friday on allocation of 86% of the 465 MHz spectrum in four bands put on the block was over Rs 1 lakh crore. This figure is very close to the record revenue of Rs 1.06 lakh crore earned by it in 2010.
The auction continued to see furious action in the 800 MHz band for the third day in a row. The demand for airwaves in this band in Andhra Pradesh (AP) circle on Friday saw a huge jump of 15% to Rs 541 crore per block from Rs 471 crore per block a day earlier.
G Krishna Kumar, Bangalore-based telecom consultant, said fierce bidding for airwaves in AP circle could be because it is one to the top five states in the country in terms of GDP and also one of the IT capitals.
Curiously, even Odisha and Madhya Pradesh (MP) saw some intense bidding on Friday with the price per block shooting up by 19% and 10% respectively. In Odisha, it moved up to Rs 22.32 crore per block from Rs 18.75 crore per block and in MP to Rs 266.50 crore per block from Rs 243.90 crore per block.
Spectrum price in Delhi also jumped by around 1% from Rs 885.95 crore per block to Rs 903.74 crore per block. Beside these circles, prices in the rest of 800 MHz band circles seems to have stabilised.
Prices of 900 MHz band spectrum has, more or less, stabilised with marginal price rise in a few circles like Assam, Maharashtra, Northeast and West Bengal circles.
Friday also saw demand for 1,800 MHz with upward price movement in Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Kolkata and Odisha.
In the 2,100 MHz band, there were no bidder in Mumbai, Delhi and AP circles due to prohibitive reserve price per block in these circles, which was as high as Rs 3,315 crore (Delhi) per block and Rs 3,245 crore (Mumbai) per block. In this band, there was a nominal price rise in Assam, Northeast, Rajasthan and UP (west).
Krishna Kumar said the lacklustre demand for 2,100 MHz could be because only one slot had been put up for sale at very high reserve price. He believes this band could see some spectrum left unsold at the end of the auction. He expects the auction to conclude in a few days.
The auction has eight participants including Bharti, Vodafone, Idea, Uninor, Aircel, Tata Tele, Reliance Communication and Reliance Jio. The government said since there was still some more spectrum left to be sold, the bidding will continue today.
On the ninth day of the spectrum auction, the total bid value remained over Rs 1 lakh crore as telecom companies (telcos) went after airwaves in the 800 Mega Hertz (MHz) band as they look to cash in from data consumption explosion projected by internet survey firms.
After 55 rounds of bidding, the government's provisional revenue earning on Friday on allocation of 86% of the 465 MHz spectrum in four bands put on the block was over Rs 1 lakh crore. This figure is very close to the record revenue of Rs 1.06 lakh crore earned by it in 2010.
The auction continued to see furious action in the 800 MHz band for the third day in a row. The demand for airwaves in this band in Andhra Pradesh (AP) circle on Friday saw a huge jump of 15% to Rs 541 crore per block from Rs 471 crore per block a day earlier.
G Krishna Kumar, Bangalore-based telecom consultant, said fierce bidding for airwaves in AP circle could be because it is one to the top five states in the country in terms of GDP and also one of the IT capitals.
Curiously, even Odisha and Madhya Pradesh (MP) saw some intense bidding on Friday with the price per block shooting up by 19% and 10% respectively. In Odisha, it moved up to Rs 22.32 crore per block from Rs 18.75 crore per block and in MP to Rs 266.50 crore per block from Rs 243.90 crore per block.
Spectrum price in Delhi also jumped by around 1% from Rs 885.95 crore per block to Rs 903.74 crore per block. Beside these circles, prices in the rest of 800 MHz band circles seems to have stabilised.
Prices of 900 MHz band spectrum has, more or less, stabilised with marginal price rise in a few circles like Assam, Maharashtra, Northeast and West Bengal circles.
Friday also saw demand for 1,800 MHz with upward price movement in Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Kolkata and Odisha.
In the 2,100 MHz band, there were no bidder in Mumbai, Delhi and AP circles due to prohibitive reserve price per block in these circles, which was as high as Rs 3,315 crore (Delhi) per block and Rs 3,245 crore (Mumbai) per block. In this band, there was a nominal price rise in Assam, Northeast, Rajasthan and UP (west).
Krishna Kumar said the lacklustre demand for 2,100 MHz could be because only one slot had been put up for sale at very high reserve price. He believes this band could see some spectrum left unsold at the end of the auction. He expects the auction to conclude in a few days.
The auction has eight participants including Bharti, Vodafone, Idea, Uninor, Aircel, Tata Tele, Reliance Communication and Reliance Jio. The government said since there was still some more spectrum left to be sold, the bidding will continue today.
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