New Delhi. Telecom companies placed bids worth about Rs 11,000 crore in five rounds on the first day of spectrum auction on Tuesday. Sources gave this information. The government is auctioning 10,500 MHz spectrum at a reserve price of Rs 96,238 crore. Bids have been invited from telecom service providers for this.
A source familiar with the matter said, “Telecom companies have placed bids worth about Rs 11,000 crore in the first day’s spectrum auction. The auction will resume on Wednesday.” According to the report released by the Department of Telecommunications about the first day’s auction, bids have been placed mainly in the 900 and 1,800 MHz spectrum bands. Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea are participating in this auction.
Reliance Jio has deposited the highest advance amount of Rs 3,000 crore for the spectrum auction. On this basis, the company can bid for the maximum number of radio waves. Bharti Airtel has deposited Rs 1,050 crore and Vodafone Idea (VIL) has deposited Rs 300 crore as earnest money.
According to an official statement, the spectrum auction started at 10 am and gradually a total of five rounds were held.
This is the 10th auction since the spectrum sale process started online in 2010. The last spectrum auction was held in August 2022, in which radio waves were offered for 5G services for the first time.
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) had issued the Notice Inviting Applications (NIA) for the spectrum auction on March 8.
The Ministry of Communications has said that bidding will be done for 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1,800 MHz, 2,100 MHz, 2,300 MHz, 2,500 MHz, 3,300 MHz and 26 GHz spectrum bands in this auction.