The government will now get at least Rs 17,362.66 crore in the current fiscal from the auction in case companies opt for instalment mode.
The bidders can pay the part of the money upfront and the remaining amount over a maximum of 10 yearly instalment.
Out of five online spectrum auctions, the present auction is largest in terms of radiowaves on sale, and third longest till date in terms of duration.
3G auction in 2010 lasted for 34 days, broadband wireless access (BWA) ended in 16 days. 2G auction in November 2012, on the other hand, ended in just two days, while the CDMA auction in March last year concluded the same day.
There is no time limit for the sale of spectrum and the duration of the current auction will depend on the appetite of the eight companies in the fray—Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Idea Cellular, Reliance Jio Infocomm, Aircel, Tata Teleservices, Telewings (Uninor) and Reliance Communications.
The government has put on the block about 385 Mhz of spectrum in the 1800 Mhz band, and 46 Mhz in 900 Mhz band.
