The revenue from the 3G spectrum sale touched a whopping Rs 58,416 crore with the bid for a national third generation mobile licence hitting Rs 14,446 crore on Day 28 of the auction on Wednesday.
At the current price for a pan-India radio wave licence, the government is assured of collecting at least Rs 58,416 crore. The government had expected a revenue of Rs 35,000 crore from the sale of both 3G radio waves and BWA (broadband wireless access) spectrum.
The base price for a national 3G licence was fixed at a low Rs 3,500 crore. The BWA spectrum auction will start only after the 3G auction.
The Mumbai circle continued to lead the pack at Rs 2,661.85 crore, followed by the Delhi circle at Rs 2,612.42 crore. The Karnataka circle was at the third slot with a bid of Rs 1,503.25 crore today.
Tamil Nadu moved up to the fourth spot with a bid price of Rs 1,393.87 crore, while Maharashtra fell to the fifth slot with a bid price of Rs 1,208.76 crore on Day 28.
As per the data on the department of telecom’s Website, the Andhra Pradesh circle quoted a price of Rs 1,194.65 crore today, while Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh-West and Kolkata had a bid price of Rs 1,044.43 crore, Rs 425.58 crore and Rs 420.31 crore, respectively after today’s bidding. Interestingly, Orissa, North East and Uttar Pradesh—East among the C circles saw excess demand today.
Telecom minister A. Raja had recently expressed confidence that the government might garner Rs 50,000-55,000 crore from the 3G and BWA spectrum auctions.
In all, nine mobile operators are in the auction that began on April 9 for 3G spectrum which allows subscribers to download hi-speed data and stream videos on mobile phones.
The radio waves are being auctioned across 22 circles.
