Spectrum auction begins with Rs53,531-cr bids on Day1; no bids for 700 MHz spectrum

India's largest-ever spectrum auction got on to a slow start on Saturday with industry leaders, including Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India, Idea Cellular and newcomer Reliance Jio Infocomm,  putting in combined bids worth Rs53,531 crore, with no bids for the premium 700 MHz and 900 MHz bandwidths.

The 1800 MHz and 2300 MHz bands, both used for 4G, saw the most bidding interest after five rounds of bidding on Saturday, according to data issued by the telecom department .

Operators also placed bids for spectrum in 2100 MHz (3G/4G) band, 2500 MHz (4G) band, 2300 MHz (4G) and 800 MHz (2G/4G) bands as well.
 
The maximum of bids were seen in 1800 MHz band - earlier known as 2G spectrum - with bidding in 19 of 22 telecom circles, including Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Gujarat and UP (East and West).

The telecom ministry is offering as much as 2,354.55 megahertz of airwaves for auction in seven bandwidths of a total base value of Rs5,63,000 crore.
 
After five rounds on Day 1, the airwaves auction saw total bids of worth around Rs53,531 crore, official sources said. The spectrum auction will resumes today after Sunday.

A total of seven telecom companies, including Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Idea Cellular, Reliance Jio, Aircel, Reliance Communications and Tata Teleservices, are in the fray for precious spectrum.
 
The telecom ministry hopes the current auction to end spectrum drought in the country helping operators to improve service quality.

The Department of Telecom expects demand to pick up as bidding progresses as operators vie to arm themselves with spectrum to maintain competitive edge in next generation mobile services.