Nine telcos submit bids for 3G auction

As may as nine telecommunications companies operating in India have submitted their bids for the auction of the 3G spectrum. According to the Department of Telecom, it has also received The DoT also said it has received 11 applications for Broadband Wireless Access (BWA).

India’s 3G spectrum auction is a sad story of endless waiting and confusion, and the auction dates have been postponed multiple times so far. 4G technology is already being explored elsewhere, but for now the only way we can access 3G mobile broadband is through state-owned MTNL or BSNL.

Among the nine telecom players who have submitted their bids for the auction of 3G spectrum are almost all the big names in the telecom sector. They include Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Idea, Videocon, Aircel, S Tel and Tata Tele. The 3G auction scenario is now hotting up more than ever with the bids having been submitted. The government plans to kick off the 3G auctions on April 9, with the hope of initiating the services starting September 1.

Three slots of spectrum are up for sale across a handful of states India, while a few other states will have four slots on offer. The Department of Telecom is said to have fixed the reserve price for pan-India spectrum at Rs 3,500 crore. Of the total 22 circles in the country, five states, namely Punjab, Bihar, West Bengal, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir, will have four private players. The others will have three.

With the 3G mobile services set to go on stream as soon as the auction gets over and players jump on to the scene, high-speed content download and broadband services will become a reality in India. In the meantime, the auction is expected to make the Indian administration’s coffers richer by Rs 35,000 crore. The fact that auctions have a final date has brought back the enthusiasm which had been eroded after the government had postponed the event so many times over and over again. Indecision over the availability of spectrum and the number of operators to be allowed in each circle had been attributed as the reasons for the postponements.