Govt aims to raise Rs 39,895 crore from telecom spectrum auction

21 Dec 2012 Evaluate

The government is expected to have started preparing fresh plans to auction telecom spectrum that can fetch around Rs 39,895 crore. As per the projected plan, the government may get around Rs 25,316 crore from the auction of spectrum in premium 900 Mhz GSM band and Rs 14,579 crore from auction of unsold spectrum in 1800 Mhz band.  For the premium 900 Mhz band, government is learnt to have fixed minimum price of Rs 970.30 crore per block for Delhi, Rs 949.84 crore per block for Mumbai and Rs 227.44 crore per block for Kolkata circle.

Further, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), they may sell more airwaves in Delhi, Mumbai, Karnataka and Rajasthan as compared to the quantum of spectrum it has earlier put for bids in recent auction which ended November 14, 2012. DoT is expected to put 15 Mhz of spectrum in 1800 Mhz band which is used for 2G GSM services amounting to 12 blocks in Delhi and Mumbai for auction at reserve price of Rs 485.15 crore and Rs 474.92 crore per block.

The government in previous auction had put only 10 Mhz for auction divided in 8 blocks of 1.25 Mhz each for Rs 693.06 crore in Delhi and Rs 678.45 crore in Mumbai which attracted no bidders due to the high bid price. Meanwhile in Rajasthan and Karnataka, it will auction same quantity of 11 blocks spectrum at reserve price of Rs 46.96 crore and Rs 231.08 crore, respectively.

Further, according to the draft plan, new players may be required to bid for minimum of 4 blocks in both 1800 Mhz and 900 Mhz band in Delhi and Mumbai. New entrants may have to bid for 4 blocks in Rajasthan and Karnataka where 1800 Mhz band will be put for auction. But for auction of 900 Mhz in Kolkata, new players may be required to bid for minimum of 1 block only. Moreover, existing players will be allowed to bid for airwaves but it will subject to new rule of spectrum capping.

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