BWA auction: Infotel is pan-India winner

NEW DELHI, INDIA: Unlike the 3G spectrum auctions, BWA has one pan-India winner. Infotel has won bid for all the 22 circles for which the auctions were held. Infotel, Qualcomm, Bharti, Tikona, Aircel and Augere are in the list of provisional winners for BWA spectrum.

Infotel and Qualcomm have won bid for Mumbai and Delhi circles. The provisional winning prices of both these circles stood at Rs.2241.02 crore and Rs.2292. 95 crore respectively. Bharti and Infotel won Kolakta circle for Rs.523.20 crore each.

The pan-India BWA price stood at Rs.12, 847.77 crore with the government clocking a total revenue of Rs.38,543.31 crore.

Tamil Nadu was the third most expensive circle with a provisional winning price of Rs.2069.45 crore. This was Rs 20 crore high from the last bid at the end of day 15. Infotel and Aircel have been declared provisional winners for this circle.

The government has auctioned two slots each of unpaired 20 MHz of pan-India BWA spectrum in frequency band of 2.3Ghz.

BSNL and MTNL have already been given BWA spectrum ahead of private players. They will have to pay the amount equal to the highest bid in each circle. MTNL will have to pay Rs 4533.97 crore for spectrum price in Delhi and Mumbai where the company operates.

A total of 11 companies were bidding for BWA spectrum. Reliance Wimax, Idea Cellular, Vodafone, Spice Internet Service Provider and Tata Communications Internet failed to secure any spot in this bid.

BWA spectrum is considered the route to 4G services which, as per International Telecommunication Union, can deliver download speed of 100 mbps to 1 gbps. Till date download speed of 70 mbps have been achieved in lab condition.

The provisional winners for some key circles are:

Delhi: Infotel and Qualcomm

Mumbai: Infotel and Qualcomm

Maharashtra: Bharti and Infotel

Gujarat: Infotel and Tikona

Tamil Nadu: Infotel and Aircel

Kolkata: Infotel and Bharti

Karnataka: Infotel and Bharti

Andhra Pradesh: Aircel and Infotel

(With inputs from IANS)