Spectrum Auction: Govt rakes in Rs 96,000 crore on Day 7

NEW DELHI: After a dip, the spectrum bid amount rose to Rs 96,000 crore on the seventh day of auction, with over 84% of the airwaves been provisionally allocated to bidders.

Six rounds of bidding were completed during the day and so far, 43 rounds of bidding has taken place, an official statement said.

“The bidding is taking place in all the bands. Brisk bidding was seen on seventh day of bidding, with activity requirement set at 100%. There is aggressive bidding going on in 1800 MHz, 900 MHz and 800 MHz bands,” it said.

“Majority of service areas are going at a premium over reserve price. The competitive bidding is expected to continue,” it added further.

The government is likely to fetch more than its expectations of 1 lakh crore from the spectrum auctions as operators are bidding aggressively to retain airwaves in the circles to continue services.

However, on the sixth day of auction, the bid value dipped to Rs 92,200 crore.

The total spectrum put to auction is 103.75 MHz in 800 MHz band, 177.8 MHz in 900 MHz band and 99.2 MHz in 1,800 MHz band and 5 MHz in 2100 MHz (3G).