Spectrum Auction concludes; Total bids for more than Rs 77,814 crore received

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Business News

Mar 03, 2021

8:34AM

Spectrum Auction concludes; Total bids for more than Rs 77,814 crore received

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The auction of telecom spectrum ended yesterday with total bids of 77 thousand eight hundred 14 crore 80 lakh rupees for the airwaves. Telecommunications Secretary Anshu Prakash said, incremental bids for 668.20 crore rupees were made on the second and concluding day of Spectrum Auction. The e-auction was based on Simultaneous Multiple Round Ascending Auction (SMRA) methodology.

Mr Prakash informed that bidding took place for spectrum in 800 Megahertz, 900 Megahertz, 1,800 Megahertz, 2,100 Megahertz and 2,300 Megahertz bands. The total quantity of spectrum for which right to use has been acquired in these bands is 855.60 Megahertz. The participants did not bid in 700 Megahertz and 2,500 Megahertz bands. Four rounds of bidding, two each with stipulated activity levels of 80 per cent and 90 per cent took place on March 1. Two rounds of bidding with stipulated activity level of 100 per cent took place on March 2.

Three bidders, Bharti Airtel Limited, Vodafone Idea Limited and Reliance JioInfocomm Limited participated in the auction. A total quantity of 2,308.80 Megahertz spectrum was put to auction, including spectrum that is expiring up to December this year. Reliance Jio was the biggest bidder acquiring 488.35 Megahertz of spectrum for over 57 thousand 1 hundred 22 crore rupees. Bharti Airtel bid for 355.45 Megahertz of spectrum for over 18 thousand 6 hundred 98 crore rupees.

Vodafone Idea bid for 11.80 Megahertz of airwaves for over 1 thousand 9 hundred 93 crore rupees. Spectrum Usage Charges for the spectrum acquired in this auction will be payable at the rate of three per cent of Adjusted Gross Revenue of the licensee, excluding revenue from wireline services.

Ministry of Communications said, the auction has concluded and the provisional results are subject to scrutiny and approval by the government. It said, with the deployment of additional spectrum acquired in this auction in the networks of Telecom Service Providers, the Quality of Service and customer experience of telecom consumers across the country are expected to improve.