The ongoing auction for 3G spectrum crossed yet another landmark with the value of at least two circles — Mumbai and Delhi — crossing the Rs.2,000-crore mark, while the provisional winning price for a pan-India licence surpassed Rs.12,000-crore.
At the end of 137 rounds, the revenue collections from 3G spectrum auction are now touching Rs.50,000 crore.
The provisional winning price for pan-India licence now stands at Rs.12,068 crore, with Mumbai being the costliest telecom circle at Rs.2,128.88 crore, closely followed by Delhi at Rs.2,080.62 crore. Interestingly, four other circles have now crossed the Rs.1,000-crore mark — Karnataka (Rs.1,216 crore), Maharashtra (Rs.1,105 crore), Tamil Nadu (Rs.1,046 crore) and Andhra Pradesh (Rs.1,029 crore), while Gujarat at Rs.993 crore is almost there.
However, bidding in the remaining 15 telecom circles out of total 22 is still to gain momentum. The provisional winning bid for remaining 15 circles is still to cross Rs.500 crore per circle.
Nine telecom companies — Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications, Vodafone Essar, Idea Cellular, Tata Teleservices, Aircel, Etisalat, Videocon Telecommunications and S Tel — are taking part in the online auction which is now nearing completion.
The reserve price for a national licence was set at Rs.3,500 crore, which on Friday touched Rs.12,069 crore.
