Spectrum auction appeared to slow down on second day of the bidding with no takers in sight for the premium 700 Mhz and 900 Mhz bands but total bids advanced to Rs 56,872 crore mainly due to demand for widely-used 1800 Mhz.
The auction on the first day had closed with bids worth Rs 53,531 crore. With six rounds of bidding today, the total number of rounds conducted so far stands at 11.
The demand was witnessed in the bands of 800Mhz, 1800Mhz, 2100Mhz, 2300Mhz and 2500Mhz.
The demand for mobile airwaves trickled in for select circles like Mumbai, UP East and West and Gujarat.
However, the premium spectrum bands of 700Mhz and 900Mhz continued to be ignored by operators even today, seemingly on account of high pricing. 700 MHz band is priced at Rs 57,500 crore, which telcos have complained has "very high reserve price".
In run-up to the auctions, debt-ridden telecom companies had said that regulator TRAI failed to read market realities before fixing the price. The TRAI suggests the initial reserve which is the base for the final prices are determined by the government.
The bidding will resume tomorrow at 0900 hrs.
Airwaves in the 1800 Mhz band -- which can be used to provide 4G and 2G services -- continued to be in demand in circles of Mumbai and UP East. The price of spectrum in this band increased in Mumbai, Rajasthan, UP East and West and Haryana circles.
During the day, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh (East) attracted bidders interest in 800 Mhz band, which is seen as the next best alternative to 700Mhz band in terms of efficiency and transmission of signals but is not as
expensive.
Spectrum demand was seen in 2300 Mhz band for circles of Bihar, Gujarat, Kerala and Maharashtra. The frequency band has been touted as a low price alternative to bands like 700 Mhz, 800 Mhz and 1800 Mhz for providing 4G services.
Telecom operators also placed demand for 2100Mhz band spectrum in Delhi, Maharashtra, Bihar J&K, Kerala, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and UP East. This band is used for providing 3G services.
The higher the frequency, the lower is its pricing as coverage and efficiency tapers with increase in spectrum band value.
Still demand was seen for 2500 Mhz band in Delhi, Gujarat, Kolkata, Maharashtra and Mumbai, Rajasthan, UP East, UP West, and Bengal. This band is considered to be useful where population density is high.
The spectrum has a capacity to garner as much as Rs 5.6 lakh crore at the reserve price but the government expects the actual numbers to be 15-20 per cent higher than this.
(With PTI inputs)
