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Spectrum auction February 2014: Bids total Rs. 56,554 crores by end of day six

Spectrum auction February 2014: Bids total Rs. 56,554 crores by end of day six

By Press Trust of India | Updated: 10 February 2014 10:51 IST

Telecom firms offered bids totalling Rs 56,554.92 crores for 900MHz and 1800MHz bands after 42 rounds at the end of sixth day of spectrum auction on Saturday.

"A total of 42 rounds are over. Bids worth around Rs. 33,082.58 crore are received for 1800MHz and Rs. 23,472.34 crores for 900MHz. A total of Rs. 56,554.92 crores. Auction will continue on Monday," Telecom Secretary MF Farooqui said.

He said there will be a realisation of at least Rs. 16,750 crores in the current fiscal if the operators opt to pay in installments.

The bidders can pay the part of the money upfront and the remaining amount over a maximum of 10 yearly installments.

The sixth day of auction in Saturday started off with the 36th round this morning. At the end of 35 rounds yesterday, bids worth around Rs. 54,600 crores were received by the government.

The price in Delhi for 900MHz has more than doubled to Rs. 733.63 crores per MHz from the base price of Rs. 360 crores.

Mumbai was up 71.67 percent to Rs. 563.09 crores per MHz from Rs. 328 crores per MHz. In Kolkata, price was up 55.70 percent to Rs. 194.63 crores per MHz from a base price of Rs.125 crores.

As per the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), there was bidding for 11 blocks out of 16 put up for sale in Delhi, 5 out of 16 blocks in Mumbai and 12 out of 14 blocks in Kolkata for the premium 900MHz band at the end of sixth day.

For 1800MHz band, Assam witnessed over tripling of the the base price to Rs. 22.1 crores per MHz from Rs. 7 crores. Assam witnessed an excess demand of 5 blocks whereas Maharashtra saw an excess demand of 10 blocks for 1800MHz.

The budget for 2013-14 set a total target of Rs. 40,874 crores from spectrum revenue in this fiscal. A bumper collection from airwaves auction would help the government keep rising fiscal deficit under control.

The country's fiscal deficit at Rs. 5.16 lakh crores has already crossed 95 percent of budget target in the first nine months of 2013-14.

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