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Idea Cellular emerges as topmost bidder

Last Updated 26 March 2015, 19:49 IST

Mobile operator Idea Cellular, an Aditya Birla Group company, emerged as the highest spender in the spectrum auction concluded on Wednesday.

The company bid a maximum of Rs 30,306.98 crore to buy radio waves in the 900 megahertz, 1800 MHz and 2,100 MHz bands, details released here revealed.

Airtel bid Rs 29,130.20 crore in the same bands, which also saw Vodafone commit Rs 25,959.74 crore. Mukesh Ambani-run Reliance Jio, a new player in the sector, bought radiowaves that carry mobile telephony calls and data in 800 MHz and 1800 MHz for Rs 10,077.53 crore.

His brother Anil’s Reliance Communication also bid in the same bands but walked way with lesser spectrum for Rs 4,299.13 crore. Tata Teleservices bought Rs 7,851.33 crore worth of spectrum in 800 MHz and 1800 MHz.

Aircel will pay Rs 2,250 crore to buy spectrum in 1800 MHz band, while Norway’s Telenor was the only company out of the 8 participants in the auction that did not succeed in buying the radio waves. Of the record Rs 1,09,874.91 crore received in the auction that concluded Wednesday, the government will get Rs 28,872.7 crore within 10 days. Though 15 MHz radio waves remained unsold, Telecom Minister Ravi
Shankar Prasad hinted that the Department of Telecom might auction them again.

The details were revealed after the Supreme Court, which is hearing a host of petitions on the issue of spectrum, allowed the government on Thursday to go ahead and finalise the bids and name the winners, but take a decision only after its order on that matter.

All the companies willingly participated in the spectrum auction, which went on for 21 days and succeeded because the rules were clearly laid down before the process started, Prasad told reporters.

The minister said the latest spectrum auction has been the most successful of all since 2012. The heavy bidding by the large operators underscores their big bets on the potential for mobile data in the world's fastest growing smartphone market, he said.

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(Published 26 March 2015, 19:49 IST)

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