Spectrum Auction:Total bids for more than Rs 77,814 crore received

New Delhi: The auction of telecom spectrum ended today with total bids of Rs 77,814.80 crore for the airwaves. Telecommunications Secretary Anshu Prakash said, incremental bids for Rs 668.20 crore were made today on the second and concluding day of Spectrum Auction. The e-auction was based on Simultaneous Multiple Round Ascending Auction (SMRA) methodology.

Mr Prakash informed that bidding took place for spectrum in 800 Megahertz, 900 Megahertz, 1,800 Megahertz, 2,100 Megahertz and 2,300 Megahertz bands. The total quantity of spectrum for which right to use has been acquired in these bands is 855.60 Megahertz. The participants did not bid in 700 Megahertz and 2,500 Megahertz bands. Four rounds of bidding, two each with stipulated activity levels of 80 per cent and 90 per cent took place yesterday. Two rounds of bidding with stipulated activity levels of 100 per cent took place today.

Three bidders, Bharti Airtel Limited, Vodafone Idea Limited and Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited participated in the auction.

A total quantity of 2,308.80 Megahertz spectrum was put to auction, including spectrum that is expiring up to December this year.

Spectrum Usage Charges for the spectrum acquired in this auction will be payable at the rate of three per cent of Adjusted Gross Revenue of the licensee, excluding revenue from wireline services.

The Ministry of Communications said, the auction has concluded and the provisional results are subject to scrutiny and approval by the government. It said, with the deployment of additional spectrum acquired in this auction in the networks of Telecom Service Providers, the quality of service and customer experience of telecom consumers across the country are expected to improve.