BWA spectrum bid at Rs 7,943 cr, govt revenue at Rs 23,814 cr

On the lines of the 3G spectrum auction that yielded the government a whopping Rs 67,719 crore, competition for Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) is hotting up, with the pan-India bid license touching Rs 7,943 crore on the seventh day of the auction.

At this bid price, the government would get Rs 23,814 crore, taking the total revenue from the 3G and BWA auctions to Rs 91,533 crore. The reserve price for the BWA all-India licence was fixed at Rs 1,750 crore.

Among the individual circles, bids for Delhi and Mumbai were equal, at Rs 1172.96 crore, followed by Tamil Nadu, with a bid of Rs 1,084.53 crore. Both saw excess demand.

There was negative demand in 14 circles and no demand in five circles.

The government is auctioning two slots of 20 MHz of pan-India BWA spectrum. BSNL and MTNL, which have already been given BWA spectrum ahead of private players, will have to pay the equivalent of the winning bid in each service area.

Earlier, the government had estimated a revenue of Rs 35,000 crore from the sale of both 3G and BWA radio waves.

As many as 11 companies are bidding for BWA spectrum. Apart from Bharti Airtel, Reliance, Idea Cellular, Aircel, Vodafone and Tata Communications Internet Services, the BWA aspirants include four new players - Augere, Tikona Wireless, Infotel Broadband Services and Qualcomm; and Spice Internet and Infotel.

BWA spectrum allows companies to offer high-speed Internet access as well as Internet telephony and TV services. It can also be used for voice and high-speed data services.