Spectrum auction: Government eyes Rs 80,000 crore; call rates may rise

By Newsgram Staff Writer

The Union Ministry of Communications & Information Technology is eyeing Rs 80,000 crore from the spectrum auction which started Wednesday.

The 2100 MHz, 1800 MHz, 900 MHz and 800 MHz bands are up for grabs in the auction. The first day, 4^th March 2015, saw six rounds of aggressive bidding from the telecom operators.

As of now, the bidders have come forward with bids worth approximately Rs 60,000 crore against Rs 49,000 crore, which was the value of provisionally won spectrum. The unsold spectrum would go on sale on 5^th March 2015 at 9am.

The experts say that Government's plans of fetching bids worth Rs 80,000 crore would be comfortably fulfilled since a number of permits held by major telecom operators are near their expiry. A total of 29 licenses are scheduled to expire in the current year.

With Airtel's Sunil indicating that aggressive bidding would result in a rise in tariff, this auction may not bring in great news for the end consumers. Anil Ambani group's Reliance Jio is being touted as the black horse in the race after it put in the highest earnest money (Rs 4,500 crore) among the operators. Idea Cellular currently holds 900 MHz bands in nine circles which are being auctioned. With most of its revenue coming from these circles, it would be interesting to see how far it is willing to go to retain them in its kitty.