Delhi attracts bid of US$88 million on second day of 3G auction

After two days of bidding in India’s 3G spectrum auction, the Delhi circle has already attracted a top bid of INR3.923 billion (US$88 million). The telecoms department launched the auction on March 9 and expects it could take up to two weeks for the auction to be completed, with nine operators bidding over several rounds each day. In 17 of the 22 circles, three slots of bandwidth are available, while four are offered in the remaining five circles.

Leading bid prices at end of day two (April 10) in selected circles

INR billions – Telecommunications Circle
3.9231 – Delhi
3.8113 – Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu
3.7736 – Mumbai, Gujarat, Karnataka
1.4454 – Rajasthan
1.4290 – Calcutta, Uttar Pradesh (East), Uttar Pradesh (West)1.2241 – Bengal

Source: Department of Telecommunications (DoT), India

Bidders ignored the Orissa, Assam and Jammu, and Kashmir service areas during the second day of bidding.

DoT said the bidding for one India-wide slot will start at INR41.37 billion rupees when day three actions continues on April 12.

The nine pre-qualified bidders for the 3G auction are Aircel, Bharti Airtel, Etisalat DB Telecom, Idea Cellular, Reliance Telecom, S Tel, Tata Teleservices, Videocon Telecom and Vodafone Essar.