India’s biggest ever spectrum auction may wrap up early as Govt puts mobile airwaves worth Rs 5.6 lakh crore on sale

The mega spectrum auction may be short-lived and may wrap up within two-three days. As expected, telecom companies have been bidding in full steam with Vodafone and Idea Cellular concentrating on 4G bands of 2300 and 1800 MHz.

Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio Infocomm are augmenting their data airwaves holdings.

Also, this time the government is helping the telecom companies with finances and has allowed them to use spectrum as collateral against loans.

Meanwhile, during the first day of spectrum sale, telecom companies made bids of Rs 53,531 crore, though they gave the coveted 700 MHz a pass, thanks to the high base price.

"We should see some intensity over the next day or so and closure of the auction within the week," Prashant Singhal, global telecom leader at consultancy firm EY, told ET.

As per reports, the fight may escalate in the 1800 and 2300 MHz bands, with 2100 Mhz (3G) and 800 MHz and 2500 MHz (4G) having largely settled.

"There just may be surprising interest in 700 MHz should someone like Jio have some gas left in the tank, but only in the cheaper Category C circles where the base price is below that of the 900 MHz band,” one of the analysts told ET.

During the bidding, Vodafone and Idea were aggressive about 2300 MHz spectrum. This spectrum is important for both the players to compete with Airtel and Reliance Jio’s 4G coverage.

"Idea is doubtless targetting such capacity spectrum (2300 MHz) in all its eight leadership circles, and in the markets where it already has 4G spectrum in the 1800 band. Vodafone India is likely chasing a minimum 20 MHz pan-India block of 23002500 MHz airwaves, besides in the 1800 MHz band," one of the analysts told ET.

Meanwhile, all eyes are set on Gujarat and Kerala band.

A telecom department official told ET the 2300 MHz will get sold out and that the bids are locked.

The band drew bids worth Rs 15,390 crore, which was just over a third of the total bid value on day one.

The 1800 MHz band saw maximum bidding for Mumbai -where Tata Telesevices is looking to renew its permits and spectrum -besides Haryana, Kolkata, Rajasthan, UP(E).

The other 4G band, 800 MHz, saw bids in only four circles -Gujarat, Punjab, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh East. But Rajasthan, where Reliance Jio is believed to be interested, will start the next round at a higher price, given the excess demand.

"Reliance Jio is looking to pick up Gujarat, UP East, Rajasthan in the 800 MHz band, where it would look to fill gaps in its network, and will also take some circles like Punjab, UPEast, Rajasthan, Bihar and J&K in 1800 MHz," Pankaj Agarwal, director at advisory firm Capitel Partners, told ET.