Spectrum Auction Summary : Auction ends after receiving bids worth Rs. 61,161 crores
Indian Government is ready to boost about Rs. 61,161 crores from the auction of telecommunication spectrum, the telecoms minister aforesaid on Th, so much prodigious the government’s target because it tries to slim its deficit.
The government’s initial target was to boost a minimum of $1.8 billion (approximately Rs. 11,200 crores) from the auction. Still the initial revenue would be a lot of lower as firms would like pay solely 1 / 4 to a 3rd of the winning auction worth direct and therefore the remainder through to 2026.
“The government is happy and that we can see a smile on the face of the government minister,” minister Kapil Sibal told reporters.
Finance Minister P. Chidambaram faces a challenge to fulfill the deficit target for the present year ending in March amid a insufficiency in tax collections and revenue receipts from divestment of stake in state firms.
Eight firms, as well as Bharti Airtel Ltd, Vodafone cluster Plc’s Republic of India unit and Reliance Industries Ltd, had applied to bid within the auction of 900MHz and 1800MHz band airwaves.
After ten days of the sale, bids within the 900MHz band, that is being auctioned in exactly 3 cities, totalled regarding Rs. 23,600 crores, aforesaid a government official WHO declined to be named because the auction results aren’t public nonetheless.
Bids within the 1800MHz band were regarding Rs. 37,700 crores, he said. Details on that firms won airwaves weren’t forthwith accessible.
The stakes square measure particularly high for Vodafone and Bharti that use 900MHz, however which is able to see their rights expire in November unless they stock the auction.
India, that historically sold-out airwaves to run mobile services through a state-selection method, switched to Associate in Nursing open auction in 2012 when a scandal over mis-selling of permits.
The government’s spectrum auction in November 2012 and March 2013 flopped as most bidders stayed aloof from the sales, whiney the ground bid costs were too high. Eight bidders applied to participate within the current auction when the govt. sharply cut auction reserve costs.