All 9 cos qualify for 3G bid; competition intense

All the nine players, including Bharti Airtel and Reliance Telecom, who had applied for participating in 3G spectrum auction, have been cleared for the financial bidding, making the competition for bagging for 3-4 slots on offer pretty intense.

According a Department of Telecom (DoT) notice today, Sunil Mittal-led Bharti Airtel, Anil Ambani Group company Reliance Telecom, Vodafone Essar, Etisalat DB, Idea Cellular, Stel, Tata Teleservices, Aircel and Videocon are the operators who are in the fray.

All these nine applicants will now submit their financial bids soon. Before the final auction on April 9, there will mock auctions on April 5 and 6. Operators, however, can start commercial launch post September 1, 2010 only.

Though the government had fixed a reserve prices of Rs 3,500 crore for all-India 3G spectrum, the bid could be much higher as the number of operators in the fray outweighs the number of slots available.

The government could garner at least about Rs 20,000 crore, if one takes into account only the reserve price.

Third generation (3G) telecom services allow faster connectivity than what is available now, and will enable applications such as Internet TV, video-on-demand, audio-video calls and high-speed data exchange.

Country's largest mobile operator Airtel today said it should be able to start 3G services within 6-8 months after bids are through--that is effectively by the end of this year.

For offering 3G services, the government is auctioning three slots in 17 telecom service areas and four in the remaining five areas.

Other circles, including four metros - Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai - will have three private players.

The number of slots up for auction excludes those allotted to State-run BSNL and MTNL, which were allotted licences last year and have since started offering 3G services in their operating circles.

With voice revenues touching rock bottom, major telecom operators have been awaiting the auction as 3G bandwidth as it will let them offer high-speed services that can attract users willing to pay a premium for multimedia capabilities on mobile phones.

Besides, all 11 companies applied to participate in the auction of spectrum to offer broadband wireless access (BWA) have been cleared for the next stage of auction. Bharti, Reliance Communications, Vodafone Essar and Idea Cellular figure among the BWA applicants as well.

The 11 BWA applicants are Tikona, Aircel, Augure, Idea, Bharti, Infotel, Qualcomm, Reliance Wi-Max, Spice Internet and Tata Communications.