Telcos focus on 3 metros

While the price for 900 MHz band in Delhi went up by 47 per cent from the base price, in Mumbai and Kolkata is was up 68 and 47 per cent, respectively, after the completion of 14 rounds.

The bidding process for spectrum, on Tuesday, remained focused mainly on the 900 MHz band available in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata, the telecom circles where the licences of some old operators such as Airtel and Vodafone are expiring in November. In the 1800 MHz band, for which pan-India slots are available, only Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh (West) circles saw some positive auction on the second day.

While the price for 900 MHz band in Delhi went up by 47 per cent from the base price, in Mumbai and Kolkata is was up 68 and 47 per cent, respectively, after the completion of 14 rounds. The momentum for the 1800 MHz band available in all 22 telecom circles will only pick up once the bidding process for the 900 MHz band nears completion.

The Department of Telecom is not disclosing individual bids by various companies, so the name of successful bidders will only be disclosed once the entire process is completed in next 3-4 days. The successful companies will pay 25 per cent of the winning price upfront, while the remaining will have to be paid in instalments till 2026.

DoT has fixed a pan-India rate of Rs.1,765 crore per MHz as the start price for spectrum in the 1800 MHz band, which is about 26 per cent lower than the base rate in the March, 2013, spectrum sale when no GSM player had placed their bids. Similarly, for the 900 MHz band, the approved rate was 53 per cent lower than the March auction price. DoT has put on the block about 385 MHz of radio waves in the 1800 MHz band in 22 circles and 46 MHz in the 900 MHz band in three circles of Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata.