Spectrum auction by Indian government has ended with the government raising Rs.65,789.12 crore in revenue.
The money is just a fraction of the Rs5.63 trillion (at base price) of spectrum put up for sale in the auction of 2,354.55MHz of radio waves.
The government sold 41%, around 965MHz.
Government will receive at least Rs32,000 crore upfront (excluding service tax) in line with new norms that require telcos to pay 25% of the price upfront for spectrum in the 700, 800 and 900MHz bands and 50% for higher frequencies.
Payments will have to be made in 10 days after the sales are approved.
Who Gets What?
Bharti Airtel Ltd acquired 173.8MHz of spectrum across the 1,800/2,100/2,300MHz bands for a total consideration of Rs14,244 crore.
Vodafone India Ltd spent more than Rs20,000 crore in the spectrum auction.
Reliance Jio acquired the rights to use 269.2MHz of spectrum across all 22 service areas for Rs13,672 crore.
Idea acquired 349.20MHz of spectrum at an aggregate bid value of Rs12,798 crore.
Background:
The finance ministry, in the budget for fiscal 2017, pegged the revenue target from the telecom industry at Rs98,995 crore. This included upfront receipts of Rs64,000 crore from the auction.
In this auction, the government offered spectrum in seven bands: 700MHz, 900MHz, 1,800MHz, 2,100MHz , 2,300MHz and 2,500MHz.