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3G spectrum auction revenue nears Rs.45,000 cr

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CIOL Bureau
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NEW DELHI, INDIA: India Wednesday concluded 128 rounds of an auction to award spectrum for third generation (3G) telecom services in the country, with the government's provisional revenue from the sale of airwaves nearing the Rs.45,000 crore ($9.9 billion) mark.

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At the end of the 22nd day of the auction, which began April 9, the provisional winning price for a pan-India licence crossed the Rs.11,000 crore-mark. It stood at Rs.11,047.04 crore, up 215.63 percent from the Rs.3,500 crore reserve price.

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 much faster connectivity than now 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.

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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.

Along with the fee that will be eventually paid by the two state-run enterprises for the licences, the government will provisionally get at least Rs.44,566.17 crore from the auction.

The government hopes to rake in over Rs.55,000 crore from the 3G auction and the rolling out of broadband wireless internet services in the country.

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According to the latest information available on the website of DoT, "the activity requirement will be set to 100 percent in clock round 132", which implies that the 3G auction will conclude in a day or two.

An official statement also said the allotment of spectrum after the completion of ongoing 3G auction will be "as per schedule" and there will no delay.

According to data available on DoT for the 22nd day, Mumbai continued to attract the highest bid at Rs.1,909.18 crore. The provisional winning price for Delhi stood at Rs.1,845.11 crore, followed by Maharashtra at Rs.1,051.64 crore.

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The bid price for Karnataka also crossed the Rs.1,000 crore mark, standing at Rs.1,030.69 crore.

However, Maharashtra, besides Haryana, Uttar Pradesh (East), Uttar Pradesh (West), Madhya Pradesh and the northeast, could not attract even a single player, the data showed.

This 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.

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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 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 Sep 1.

(As a reader, do you think the skyrocketing bidding price will cripple the profitability of the companies participating in the auction? Do you foresee a lackluster performance by these firms in the coming quarter as they will have to use their available fund to finance the 3G spectrum license acquisition? Please put your comments in the box below.)

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