3G spectrum auction News

Spectrum auction has received bids worth Rs 63,000 crore so far on the fourth day on Wednesday for around 40 per cent of mobile frequencies put up for sale but telecom operators continued to ignore highly priced 4G radiowaves in 700 Mhz and 900 Mhz bands.

The much-hyped spectrum auction crawled on the third day today, adding Rs 4,097 crore of bids to take total commitments to Rs 60,969 crore but over 60 per cent of the airwaves remained unsold as premium 4G bands found no takers.

As per the Department of Telecom , the total auction proceeds were Rs 1,02,057 crore till yesterday with sale of about 86 percent of the available spectrum in various bands.

Telecom stocks on Thursday fell up to 4 percent after the government fixed a higher base price for 3G spectrum auction at Rs 3,705 crore per mega hertz.

Telecom stocks fell up to four percent today after the government fixed the base price for 3G spectrum auction at Rs 3,705 crore per mega hertz.

Eyeing a record high spectrum sale of Rs one lakh crore, the government today fixed the base price for 3G auction at Rs 3,705 per mega hertz -- which itself can fetch over Rs 17,000 crore from this band.

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved Rs 3,705 crore per MHZ in the 2100 MHz band as base price for 3G spectrum auction, Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said.

High 3G spectrum base price of Rs 3,705 crore recommended by inter-ministerial panel Telecom Commission and less quantum of airwaves being put for auction will adversely impact development Indian mobile networks, global telecom body GSM Association said Thursday.

Inter-ministerial panel Telecom Commission has suggested a base price of Rs 3,705 crore per megahertz as 3G spectrum base price for upcoming auction, about 11 percent higher than what companies paid for the same in 2010 sale.

Inter-ministerial panel Telecom Commission's meeting is scheduled to be held on January 19 to discuss issues related to national optical fibre project, which is moving at snail's pace, and involve private players for expediting it.

The next round of spectrum auction for 2G and 3G networks will be held from February 25, through which the government targets to garner at least Rs 64,840 crore.

Government is likely to finalise most of the modalities this week for conducting spectrum auction for various bands, which is scheduled for February 23.

The Defence Ministry may release only 5 Mhz of 3G spectrum, one fourth of total quantity sought by DoT for conducting auction in 17 out of 22 telecom service areas in the country.