Spectrum auction of leading telecoms is going on, which includes Vodafone India, Bharti Airtel, reliance Jio Infocomm and Idea Cellular. The first day of auction receives bids worth Rs 53,531 crore. But the second day of auction managed to get a little action as compared to the first day. The second day of auction managed to get bidding of just Rs 3,261 crore. Spectrum auction clearly slows down on Day two because of the demand for 1800 Mhz band. Total 11 rounds are conducted so far with 6 rounds of bidding on Monday.
Bands with high demand
The demand was witnessed in the bands of 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz, 800 MHz and 2500 MHz. However, operators choose to ignore the premium spectrum bands 900 MHz and &00 MHz. The demand for the band which can provide 2G and 4G services is still in demand in UP East and Mumbai. Rajasthan, Gujarat, and Uttar Pradesh attracted bidders in 800 MHz which is considered as the best band in terms of efficient transmission of signals. The price of this band increases in Rajasthan, Mumbai, UP West, East and Haryana circles. Telecom operators also created demand for 210 MHz band in Bihar, Maharashtra, Delhi, Mumbai, Gujarat, Kolkata, and Bengal. All the seven big telecom companies including Vodafone, Bharti Airtel, Aircel, Reliance Jio, Idea Cellular, Tata Teleservices and Reliance Communications are in the hurry to get 3G and 4G airwaves as these are very crucial for offering next generation services and maintaining a competitive edge in the market.
Bands with low demand
There is no bidding was made for 700 MHz band that shows operators don’t want to commit investments to the high prices band with the underdeveloped ecosystem. The premium 700 MHz band has the base or reserve price of Rs 11,485 crore per MHz. The government has fixed the price of Rs 2,873 crore for spectrum in 1800 MHZ band and Rs 5895 crore for 800 MHz band.