Spectrum auction fetches Rs.1.10 lakh crore to Union Government

The Union government has fetched about 1.10 lakh crore rupees after the auctioning of a telecom spectrum.
The spectrum auction concluded on 25 March 2015 after 19 days and 115 rounds of rigorous bidding. However the 11 percent airwaves were not sold in this auction.
The process of auction was conducted for 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz and 2100 MHz spectrum covering both mobile telephony and broadband, including 4th Generation  (4G).
A total of 380.75 MHz of spectrum was put on sale in the premium 900 MHz, 1,800 MHz and 800 MHz bands and 5 MHz of spectrum was put for bidding in the 2,100 MHz band which is used for 3G mobile services across 17 out of total 22 telecom circles.
The spectrum auction included airwaves held by 9 licences of Idea Cellular, 6 permits of Bharti Airtel and 7 each of Reliance Telecom and Vodafone that were expiring in 2015-16. These auctioned airwaves mostly included frequencies in 900 MHz band and 1800 MHz band.
The government also auctioned airwaves in 1800 MHz band that remained unsold in 2014, and 800 MHz i.e. CDMA band frequencies that were left after sale in 2013.
The Department of Telecommunication (DoT) later will disclose details of the result and names of successful bidders after the Supreme Court’s permission as a case is pending in the court.

Month: Current Affairs - March, 2015