Govt may earn up to Rs 45,000 Cr from spectrum auction: Raja

April 21, 2010

New Delhi: The government is likely to earn up to Rs 45,000 crore from the auction of 3G and broadband spectrum, Telecom Minister A. Raja said Wednesday. The amount is much higher than the earlier target of up to Rs 35,000 crore.

"The auction of 3G and Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) spectrum put together is likely to fetch Rs 44,000 to Rs 45,000 crore for the government," Raja said on the sidelines of a telecom event.

After Tuesday’s round of bidding for 3G, which began on April 9, the government would get at least Rs 25,770 crore from the sale of third generation (3G) spectrum alone. On Tuesday, which was the 9th day of bidding, the base price increased to Rs 6,355 crore for pan-India frequency from Rs 3,500 crore.

Delhi continues to be on top, with a bid of Rs 733.71 crore against the base price of Rs 320 crore. Mumbai attracted the second highest quotation of Rs 667.77 crore, followed by Tamil Nadu at Rs 643.37 crore.

So far 52 rounds of bids have been completed and there is no excess demand in major circles like Delhi, Mumbai, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, indicating that the price may not go up further in these circles.

However, going by the rules of the auction, any operator can come back and bid for any of the circle till the government discovers price in all the areas simultaneously. Kolkata is the only circle with excess demand and there are 11 service areas with negative demand.