Telecom czars Sunil Mittal, Mukesh Ambani and Kumar Mangalam Birla did not spend in a big way this time during the spectrum auction in 2016.
The result is the end of the 2016 spectrum auction in record five days. The auction, which was postponed from the last financial year, did not attract any competitive bids.
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# commitment of Rs 65,789 crore or $9.8 billion, or about 11.6 percent of the expected Rs 5.66 lakh crore or $8.5 billion
# no entry of new telecom operators from abroad
# no takers for 700 MHz spectrum
# no takers for 900 MHz
# India tried to sell 2,354 MHz spectrum
# Telecoms bought 965 MHz
# Rs 53,000 crore was the total bid value on first day
# auction completed in 31 rounds
# seven bands — 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1,800 MHz, 2,100 MHz, 2,300 MHz and 2,500 MHz
# upfront payment to the government is around Rs 32,000 crore, the highest in five years
# $16 billion obtained in 2015 auction
# Bharti Airtel buys 173.8 Mhz spectrum for Rs 14,244 crore
# Reliance Jio acquired 269.2 MHz spectrum for Rs 13,672 crore
# Idea Cellular procured 349.20 MHz spectrum for Rs 12,798 crore
# Telenor did not participate
# No buyers for 700 MHz band though 770 MHz was available
# Telecoms bought 15 MHz in 800 MHz band though 73.75 MHz was available
# No demand for 900 MHz band though 9.4 MHz was available
# Telecoms bought 174.8 MHz against availability of 221.6 MHz in 1800 MHz
# Telecom acquired 85 MHz against available 360 MHs in 2100 MHz
# Telecoms acquired the entire 320 MHz available in 2300 MHz
# Telecoms acquired 370 MHz against availability of 600 MHs in 2500 MHz
The spectrum auction will happen in 2017 as well though COAI is suggesting that the auction for the 700 MHz band should happen after two years.
Baburajan K
editor@telecomlead.com
