Bids for all-India 3G licence reach Rs 103 bn

NEW DELHI, INDIA: Bids for one set of nationwide third-generation (3G) mobile spectrum licences in India reached 103.48 billion rupees ($2.33 billion), or nearly thrice the base price, on the 20th day of an auction, government data showed on Monday.

As of Monday, 116 rounds of bidding had been completed, the Department of Telecommunications said on its website. The auction started on April 9.

The base price for one set of pan-India licences had been set at 35 billion rupees.

The government will sell four such licences - three from the auction and one set to state-run telecoms firms which would have to match the highest bid price paid by the private operators.

Nine mobile operators, including Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications and Vodafone's Indian unit, are participating in the auction.

(Do you think that the auction will go on for some more time? Or will it end soon as the government declared? Or do you suppose that the government will stretch the auction a bit more to increase the bid amount? Please key in your response in the box below.)