Spectrum auction: Bids worth Rs 65,000 cr received at end of second day

Eleven bidding rounds have been completed and operators are bidding aggressively in 900 MHz band

The government received bids worth Rs 65,000 crore at the end of second day of spectrum auction, which started with a bang on Wednesday.

According to sources, 11 bidding rounds have been completed and operators are bidding aggressively in 900 MHz band. The bids have gone up by over 33% of the reserve price fixed by the department of telecommunications in all the bands.

Operators such as Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular, Reliance Communications and Vodafone have to win spectrum in 900 Mhz band as their licenses are coming up for renewal in 2015-16. And the entry of Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio in the auction has made the bidding aggressive.

On the first itself, the government had received bids for Rs 60,000 crore. This might surpass the expectations of the government which has estimated to garner Rs 80,000-1lakh crore.

The spectrum is on sale in all the four bands– 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1,800 MHz and 2,100 MHz band. DoT officials expect the bidding to go on for few weeks.

The bidding in 900 Mhz and 2,100 MHz bands witnessed agressive bidding. However, there was not much bidding in Mumbai, Delhi and Karnataka circles in the 2,100 MHz band.