Terming the high reserve price as the reason for firms such as Reliance Industries, Sistema, Aircel and RCom staying away from the spectrum auction, telecom industry bodies, on Friday, said the operators saw no “business case” in buying airwaves at such a high price.
“We have always maintained that there will be muted demand for the auction process as the reserve price set by the government is too high,” COAI Director-General Rajan Mathews said. In a surprise move, Russia’s Sistema decided to stay away from the auction while billionaire Mukesh Ambani-run RIL also refrained from participating in the process.