Pan-India 3G spectrum approaches US$1 billion

The bid price for a slot of 3G spectrum covering all India’s 22 telecommunications circles will begin at INR43.99 billion (US$988 million), when the government-run auction resumes Tuesday April 13. The highest bid price achieved on day three for India-wide bandwidth was INR43.24 billion.

Action on April 12 saw Delhi and Gujarat attract top bid prices of INR4.1643 billion (US$93.6 million) a piece, followed by Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh with INR4.045 billion, and then Karnataka with INR3.9658 billion. Gujarat drew five bids for the available three slots, while Delhi received four bids for its three slots.

At the other end of the auction, four circles – West Bengal, Orissa, Assam, and Jammu and Kashmir – attracted no bids and remain at the opening price of INR3 billion.

The Department of Telecommunications has not made public which operators are making bids in each round.

Union Communications Minister for Communications and IT, A. Raja believes the government could receive up to INR450 billion (US$10.1 billion) from the proceeds of the auction, up from the estimated INR350 billion.