Day 5 – Spectrum auction 2016 ended, 60% of spectrum remain unsold

After the conclusion on day five of the spectrum auction 2016, the government received total bids worth Rs 65,789 crore. This marks the end of once touted to be the India’s biggest spectrum auction.

Another interesting fact from the current spectrum auction is that only 40 percent of the total spectrum put up for sale got bidding. That means there is still around 60 percent of the total spectrum without a bid or unsold.

Spectrum Auction 2016

• 8 rounds of bidding on day 5 taking the total rounds of bids to 31.
• A total of 965 MHz spectrum has been sold out of a total 2,354.55 Mhz of spectrum.
• No takers for 700 MHz and 900 MHz bands.
• Reliance Jio acquired 269.2 MHz spectrum in 800MHz, 1800MHz and 2300 MHz bands across  all 22 telecom circles in India. The company has spent around Rs 13,672 crore for acquiring this spectrum.
• Bharti Airtel acquired 173.8 MHz spectrum across 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz and 2300 MHz bands across multiple telecom circles. Total amount spent for the auction stand at Rs 14,244 crore.
• Idea Cellular said to have spent around Rs 12,798 crore for acquiring 394.20 MHz of spectrum.
• Vodafone India acquired 365.2 MHz spectrum including of 2 x 82.6 MHz FDD and 200 MHz TDD spectrum across 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, and 2500 MHz bands. Total amount spent for the auction stand at Rs 20,208 crore.

If you have missed, the government have put a total of 2,354.55 megahertz (MHz) of spectrum across every band – 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHZ and 2500 MHz. Telecom operators winning the spectrum can use it for high-speed 4G LTE services. The bidding started on 1st October 2016 and ended today (6th October 2016).

Seven telecom operators Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Idea Cellular, Reliance Jio, Aircel, Reliance Communications and Tata Teleservices have participated in the auction.