Saturday, April 10, 2010

India’s much awaited multi-billion dollar spectrum 3G and broadband spectrum auction

India’s much awaited multi-billion dollar spectrum auction started on Friday. The 3G auction had begun as per schedule. Officials have said it would take at least a week or possibly more for the auctions to be completed.

The world's fastest-growing wireless market offer premium third-generation (3G) services. There is a Strong competition among bidders, which include Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications and the Indian unit of Vodafone has push up winning bids to as much as thrice the base price.

Bharti, India's biggest mobile operator, and rivals Reliance Communications, Vodafone Essar and Tata Teleservices are seen winning the most number of slots in the 3G auction, for which the base price has been set at 35 billion rupees.

A separate auction of broadband spectrum and this would be one of the world's biggest such auctions in recent years.

The Indian government has penciled in revenues of nearly $8 billion from the auction. The analyst’s expert said that the auction would fetch more than the government's target, helping it plug its fiscal deficit.