New Delhi: The telecom spectrum auction kitty surprisingly dipped to Rs 92,200 crore at the end of sixth day of bidding Tuesday, as bid price moderated after surging for five straight days for the biggest ever sale of 2G and 3G airwaves.
The total commitments in terms of provisional allocation of spectrum had risen to Rs 94,000 crore till Monday.
"At present, over 83 percent of the spectrum has been provisionally allocated to bidders at a value of approximately Rs 92,200 crore," Department of Telecom (DoT) said at the end of today's bidding.
It, however, did not give any specific reasons for the decline in the total bid value from yesterday's levels.
The Department said that bidding is taking place in all bands and six rounds were completed today.
On the fall in bid amount, government sources said that due to "increased activity in lower value spectrum like 1800 MHz the overall spectrum allocation has increased but the price has been slightly moderated."
So far, 37 rounds of bidding have taken place in total of 18 circles across the 4 bands.
In 900 MHz band, there is a lull as operators are bidding in lower vale spectrum like 1800 MHz band. 800 MHz and 1800 MHz band are witnessing aggressive bidding, sources said.
DoT said that "brisk bidding was seen on the sixth day of bidding, with activity requirement set at 100 percent. There was activity in two new service areas in 1800 MHz band. There is a shift in activity from 2100 MHz and 900 MHz bands to 1800 MHz and 800 MHz bands."
With 100 percent activity requirement and activity in new service areas, competitive bidding is expected to continue. There is still spectrum, which is yet to be sold. Bidding would recommence tomorrow, it added.
The government on Saturday had crossed the targeted minimum amount of Rs 82,000 crore from sale of airwaves.
Incumbents Bharti Airtel and Vodafone are locked with Reliance Jio to protect their spectrum they need to carry voice and data in the world's second-biggest smartphone market. In all, eight bidders are in the fray.
Breaking down the bidding activity band wise, sources said so far in 800 MHz band, out of 20 circles that were put on sale, 14 circles have seen activity, while in the 2100 MHz band 14 circles have seen activity out of the total 17.
In 900 Mhz band all 17 circles have seen activity, whereas in 1800 MHz 13 circles have seen activity so far out of the total 15 circles, they added.
At the end of 24 rounds of bidding on Saturday, the value stood at Rs 86,000 crore.
The government will not release results of the auction as a case in pending before the Supreme Court. The next hearing on the case is on March 26.
Incumbents Bharti Airtel and Vodafone are locked with Reliance Jio to protect their spectrum they need to carry voice and data in the world's second-biggest smartphone market. In all, eight bidders are in the fray.
The auction is the biggest ever sale of 2G and 3G airwaves where government is selling spectrum in four bands: 2,100 megahertz (Mhz), 1,800 MHz, 900 MHz and 800 Mhz.
There was no bidding in Mumbai, Delhi and Andhra Pradesh in 2100 MHz band till now.
A total of 380.75 MHz of spectrum is on offer in the premium 900 MHz band, 1,800 MHz and 800 MHz, while 5 MHz is up for bidding in the 2,100 MHz band across 17 out of 22 telecom areas or circles in the country.
Most of the spectrum put up for auction is at present held by Airtel, Vodafone, Idea Cellular and Reliance Telecom. Their licences are expiring in 2015-16.
Mobile licences for nine circles of Idea Cellular, six circles of Airtel and seven circles each of Vodafone and Reliance Telecom are coming up for renewal.
The 3G and BWA auction together fetched the government over Rs 1.05 lakh crore in 2010. The government had raked in Rs 62,162 crore from the last spectrum auction held in February 2014.
