Spectrum auction manages to raise just Rs 11,340 cr, ends in two days

The government of India’s auction of radio waves that transmit voice and data signals on mobile phones ended in just two days on Wednesday, after managing to garner bids worth Rs 11,340 crore. The amount is far below the minimum value of Rs 96,238 crore that the auction originally expected to raise from the sale of 10 GHz of spectrum.

In all, the auction offered radio waves in the bands of 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1,800 MHz, 2,100 MHz, 2,300 MHz, 2,500 MHz, 3,300 MHz and 26 GHz.

Officials put an end to the auction on a sluggish day two at around 11.30 am, sensing not much of action was happening. Earlier on Tuesday, June 25, when the auction opened, there were five rounds of bidding that saw telecom operators placing bids for spectrum worth Rs 11,000 crore. While Tuesday saw 90 per cent of the auction action, only 140-150 MHz of spectrum has been sold according to media reports.

The last spectrum auction, held in 2022, happened over a week. The seven-day event garnered record sales of more than Rs 1.5 trillion worth of 5G telecom spectrum. Billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Jio was the top bidder at the 2022 auction, buying nearly 50 per cent of airwaves for a price of Rs 88,078 crore.

The other major player at the 2022 auction was Sunil Mittal’s Bharti Airtel. The company made a bid for airwaves worth of Rs 43,084 crore. Vodafone Idea had purchased spectrum worth Rs 18,799 crore at the 2022 auction.