Pan-India BWA bid at Rs 8,604 cr, govt revenue at Rs 25,812 cr

The pan-India bid licence for Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) spectrum touched Rs 8,604 crore today, the eight day of the auction, which translates into a revenue of Rs 25,812 crore for the government from the sale of three slots.

At this bid price, the total revenue for the government from the 3G and BWA auctions will amount to Rs 93,531 crore. The reserve price for the BWA all-India licence was fixed at Rs 1,750 crore. The government got Rs 67,719 crore from the sale of 3G spectrum.

Among the individual circles, bids for Delhi and Mumbai were equal, at Rs 1,304.66 crore, followed by Tamil Nadu, with a bid of Rs 1,197.95 crore. Only Tamil Nadu, Punjab and Rajasthan saw excess demand. Today, ten rounds of auction were held.

There was negative demand in 12 circles and no demand in seven 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 Broadband Wireless Access 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.