Jio, Voda eye select spectrum as auction gets off to dull start

NEW DELHI: Even as most of the demand for spectrum in auction on the first day remained at reserve prices, the assured amount of $8.4 billion with an immediate upfront

NEW DELHI: Even as most of the demand for spectrum in auction on the first day remained at reserve prices, the assured amount of $8.4 billion with an immediate upfront payment of $4 billion means that the value of spectrum sold in the current auction is in line with previous spectrum auctions held in India.

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“This spectrum auctions is already approaching total bid amount comparable to the previous years,” Credit Suisse said in report issued on October 3, adding, “On day 1, most of the activity has taken place in the ‘4G’ bands of 1800Mhz and 2300Mhz with 65-70% of the spectrum assured of being sold.”

The government in 2015 spectrum sale fetched ₹1.1 lakh crore where a total of 380.75 Mhz spectrum was put up for sale. In the current auction, 2354.55 Mhz spectrum is being auctioned.

Morgan Stanley issued a report on October 2 forecasting a total potential bid amount in 2016 spectrum auction to be ₹400 billion with maximum contribution by Vodafone India and Reliance Jio.

Vodafone is expected to bid in 14 circles in 1800 Mhz band and seven circles in 2100 Mhz band, while Reliance Jio will bid for five circles in 800 Mhz band and four circles in 1800 Mhz band, analysts at Morgan Stanley said.

Research analysts at Credit Suisse said that demand in 2500 Mhz band was against expectation and came as a surprise.

In 2300 MHz band there was excess demand from bidders indicating this band to be important for data in view of operators.