Day 6: BWA spectrum bid at Rs 7,221 cr

On the lines of 3G spectrum auction, that yielded the government a whopping Rs 67,719 crore, competition in Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) is hotting up with the pan-India bid touching Rs 7,221 crore.

At this bid, the government would get Rs 21,664 crore taking total revenues to nearly Rs 90,000 crore from 3G and BWA put together. Today is the sixth day of BWA auction.

Going by the demand for BWA spectrum, which is in excess in most of the crucial circles, including in metros, the bid is likely to increase further.

Among the individual circles, bid for Delhi and Mumbai is equal at Rs 1,012.96 crore followed by Tamil Nadu with a bid of Rs 943.17 crore.

There was negative demand in 12 circles, while demand was in excess in four and six circles had equal demand and supply.

The government is auctioning two slots of 20 MHz of pan-India BWA spectrum. BSNL and MTNL, which have already been given the 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 sale of both 3G and BWA radio waves.

The 3G auction, which concluded recently, had fetched Rs 67,719 crore to the government.

As many as 11 companies are bidding for Broadband Wireless Access spectrum. Apart from Bharti Airtel, Reliance, Idea Cellular, Aircel, Vodafone and Tata Communications Internet Services, the BWA aspirants has 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.