BWA bid at Rs 8,980 crore, Govt. revenue at Rs 26,940 crore

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The pan-India bid license for Broadband Wireless Access spectrum touched Rs 8,980 crore on Thursday, the ninth day of the auction, which translates into a revenue of Rs 26,940 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 94,659 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 individual circles, Mumbai received the highest bid of Rs 1,404.17 crore, while Delhi fetched Rs 1,384.89 crore bid. Tamil Nadu got the next highest bid of Rs 1,271,62 crore.

Karnataka garnered a bid of Rs 1,006.20 crore, while Maharashtra attracted a bid of Rs 915.64 crore and Andhra Pradesh fetched a bid of Rs 903.33 crore. Only the Mumbai and Delhi circles saw excess demand.

On Thursday, six rounds of auction were held. There was negative demand in 12 circles and no demand in eight 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.

[Jeffa]

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