India publishes list of pre-qualified 3G bidders

India is set to conduct the auction for much-anticipated 3G spectrum on April 9. Applications from prospective bidders were open until March 19 and pre-qualified bidders were announced on March 30. This announcement will be followed by mock auctions held on April 5 and 6.

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. The 11 pre-qualified for the broadband wireless access (BWA) licences are Aircel, Augere (Mauritius), Bharti Airtel, Indea Cellular, Infotel Broadband Services, Qualcomm, Reliance WiMAX, Spice Internet Service Provider, Tata Communications Internet Services, Tikona Communications Internet Services, and Vodafone Essar.

The auction of BWA spectrum will occur two days after the completion of the 3G bandwidth auction.

Despite the promising news, operators and analysts can be excused for being sceptical that the auction may actually take place, as the process has been delayed three times before since the original date of January 16, 2009. The postponements have been due to internal government disputes over pricing and availability of spectrum.