Reported By:
| Edited By: Nivedita Mookerji |Source: DNA |Updated: Mar 30, 2018, 03:00 AM IST
After the windfall from the 3G (third generation) auction, there’s more to cheer.
Spectrum bidding for broadband wireless access (BWA) service has already assured the government revenue worth Rs 12,551 crore by end of Day 3 of the auction.
This is an increase of almost 78% from the first day’s collection of Rs 7059.54 crore.
With the BWA auction set to continue for weeks, the finance ministry can hope to get as much as Rs 30,000 crore from sale of spectrum to companies wanting to offer wireless broadband.
With Rs 67,000 crore already in its kitty from the 3G auction, the government could raise a total of around Rs 100,000 crore from the ongoing spectrum sale, according to sources.
Add to that the additional 2G spectrum price that some telcos may have to pay. If the telecom regulator Trai’s recent recommendation is accepted, there could be another Rs 35,000 crore mop-up, taking the total up to Rs 135,000 crore or so.
The government estimate from 3G and BWA bidding was just Rs 35,000 crore.
Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee had recently told the media that high returns from 3G auction could provide an extra elbow room to the government faced with a steep fiscal deficit.
While the 3G auction had continued well beyond a month, BWA bidding may also carry on for long as there are only two slots for private players while there are 11 participants, pointed out an industry source. 20 MHz of spectrum chunk is on offer for BWA, and, since there won’t be much to sell in the next five years or so, competition is expected to be stiff, an expert explained.
On Wednesday, as many as 6 circles clocked a provisional winning price of Rs 452.96 crore. These circles are Delhi, Mumbai, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
The pan-India reserve price for BWA spectrum is Rs 1750 crore, while for 3G it was Rs 3500 crore. The qualified bidders for BWA are Bharti Airtel, Reliance WiMax, Idea Cellular, Aircel, Augere Mauritius, Infotel Broadband Services, Qualcomm, Spice Internet Service Provider, Tata Communications Internet Services, Tikona Digital Networks and Vodafone Essar.
BWA is expected to give a boost to the broadband connectivity in the country. India has 8 million broadband connections, against around 600 million phone connections. The country had set a goal of 20 million broadband connections by 2010.
