India’s biggest-ever sale of spectrum will begin on Saturday amid an on-going battle between existing telecom firms and the new entrant Reliance Jio.
Seven operators are in fray for a total of over 2,300 MHz of airwaves across seven bands, worth Rs 5.66 lakh crore as per the reserve price fixed by the government.
Even as the government is optimistic about the auction, analysts have cautioned that it may not see a very strong demand.
The telecom firms are expected to fork out only about Rs.1 trillion (Rs.1 lakh crore) to buy spectrum at the auctions, according to research agency CRISIL. The last auction in 2015 had fetched the government Rs. 1.1 lakh crore.
Typically, Earnest Money Deposit (EMD) is indicative of a company’s interest and strategy. Reliance Jio has deposited maximum amount of Rs.6,500 crore as EMD to the Department of Telecommunications, followed by Vodafone India (Rs.2,740 crore), Idea Cellular (Rs.2,000 crore), Bharti Airtel (Rs.1,980 crore), Tata Teleservices (Rs.1000 crore), Reliance Communication (Rs.313 crore) and Aircel (Rs.120 crore).
For the first time, the 700 MHz spectrum — considered the most suitable for offering high speed broadband services — is also being put on of sale at a pan-India reserve price of about Rs.11,500 crore per MHz.
