3G auction revenue crosses Rs.60,000 cr mark

NEW DELHI, INDIA: The government's provisional revenue from the sale of third-generation (3G) airwaves Thursday crossed the Rs.60,000-crore ($13.3 billion) mark after India concluded 162 rounds of an auction to award the spectrum for telecom services in the country.

At the end of the 29th day of the auction, which began April 9, the government's provisional revenue stood at Rs.60,571.22 crore and the provisional winning price for the pan-India 3G licence at Rs.15,000.61 crore, which is 328.5 percent more than the Rs.3,500 crore reserve price.

Earlier, the government had said that it hoped to rake in Rs.55,000 crore ($12.2 billion) from both the 3G auction and the rolling out of broadband wireless Internet services in the country.

But with the aggressive bidding in few circles, the government is poised to get more than the estimated amount from the 3G auction alone.

Slots for three-four players are available in each of the 22 circles into which the country has been geographically divided for the 3G services, which will facilitate faster connectivity and enable applications such as Internet TV, video-on-demand, audio-video calls and high-speed data exchange.

Nine telecom companies - Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications, Vodafone Essar, Idea Cellular, Tata Teleservices, Aircel, Etisalat, S Tel and Videocon Telecommunications - are participating in the online auction process which will end only when the demand is equal to the number of slots available in each circle.

The government has already given Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) spectrum for 3G services on the condition that they pay the same licence fee as would be levied on private players after the auction.

Data on the Department of Telecommunications' website showed that Mumbai continued to attract the highest bid at Rs.2,824.91 crore.

The provisional winning price for Delhi stood at Rs.2,745.65 crore, followed by Karnataka at Rs.1,564.27 crore, Tamil Nadu at Rs.1,436.08 crore and Maharashtra at Rs.1,233.04 crore.

While Delhi, Punjab , Orissa, Bihar, Kolkata and Andhra Pradesh witnessed more players in fray than the number of slots available, Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal and Kerala could not attract enough bidders.

The ongoing 3G auction is a simultaneous auction for the 22 circles over a secure website. At each round, the price is hiked from between 10-1 percent based on demand.

The auction is being held on all days except Sundays and national holidays. The bid data, including the winning companies' names, will be made public only after the auction's completion and approval by the government.

The winning firms will have to deposit the money within 10 days after the auction and the successful bidders would be allowed to offer 3G services on a commercial basis from September 1.