The second day of the 3G spectrum auctions saw increased bid activities by the nine mobile operators in fray, taking the total bid amount for all the 22 circles to Rs 4,085 crore. This is up 4.2% or Rs 166 crore more than Friday?s Rs 3,919 crore. This means that of the budgeted Rs 35,000 crore from the auctions, so far the operators have committed around Rs 16,676 crore, inclusive of the amount BSNL/MTNL would have to pay.
Day 2 once again saw five rounds of bidding, taking the total round of biddings to 10 in the last two days. The day also saw Delhi, which has three slots, again drawing the highest bid amount at Rs 392.31 crore, against a reserve price of Rs 320 crore. However, as against Friday?s equilibrium, Saturday saw four operators in the fray making one excess bid than the available slot. The clock auction process, which is at play, would see the process continue till an equilibrium is reached across all the 22 circles.
The Mumbai circle saw the bid price at Rs 377.36 crore with an equilibrium being reached there. Gujarat witnessed the maximum demand with five operators vying for three slots and the bid going at Rs 377.36 crore.
Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu saw the second highest bid at Rs 381.13 crore. The C circles continued to show negative demand, which analysts maintain would see interest only towards the latter part of the bidding. As is known, the reserve price for bidding for all the 22 circle is Rs 3,500 crore. All the nine operators participated on the first day, with the six players ? Bharti, Vodafone, Reliance, Tata Teleservices, Idea, and Aircel ? bidding for pan-India spectrum.
Three slots are available in 17 circles while the remaining five have four slots.
