At the closer of the India's 3G auctions, most of bidders including the biggies Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Reliance Communications emerging winners for the 3G airwaves. While latest entrant in GSM arena Videocon Telecommunications Ltd and Etisalat DB were unable to win a single circle.
The GSM biggies Vodafone Essar, Bharti Airtel and dual technology operator Reliance Communications (Rcom) bagged the lucrative Delhi and Mumbai circles for a whopping Rs.3316.93 crore & Rs 3247.07 crore respectively and hope to get good 3G subscriber base initially with the commercial launch in both circles.
India's largest GSM service provider Bharti Airtel, which had pan-India 3G ambitions, had to settle for just for 13 telecom circles along with Reliance Communications and Aircel. The company said in a statement “We would like to point out that the auction format and severe spectrum shortage along with ensuing policy uncertainty, drove the prices beyond reasonable levels. As a result, we could not achieve our objective of pan India 3G footprint in this round."
Bharti Airtel has emerged successful in Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu (including Chennai service area), UP West, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Assam, North East and Jammu & Kashmir.
Another Pan-India operator Aircel emerged as the biggest spender which bagged 3G license for its strong hold areas and covers almost South and East region of the country. Aircel has the same number of telecom circles for 3G services as Bharti Airtel. But at very lower financial outflow compare to Airtel, it is paying almost half the price that Bharti Airtel is.
Mr. Gurdeep Singh, COO, Aircel said to TelecomTalk “After several rounds of competitive bidding, Aircel has bagged 13 telecom circles in 3G for Rs. 6500 crores which will allow us to take our Data Strategy to the next level. This further opens new revenue opportunities and gives way to a dynamic Business Model."
He also added "We now cover the whole of Southern and Eastern belt where we have our strong presence and in J&K, Punjab & UP (East) as well. With this we will be able to offer seamless connectivity and meaningful products and services to our consumers which will eventually change their life and open a world of possibilities.”
The 3rd largest GSM mobile service operator Idea Cellular is the winner in 11 service areas at very lowest financial outflow out of the five other big service providers. Idea cellular win eleven circles at total cost of Rs. 5768.59 cr. According to the company's statement "With the 2.1 GHz (3G Spectrum) footprint of Idea Cellular covers a very high proportion (81%) of Idea’s total national revenues. Idea believes its bidding strategy and the Auction results significantly enhance Idea’s competitive position in the market."
Reliance Communications (Rcom) which has bagged 3G spectrum in 13 circles including Delhi and Mumbai as well as category ’C’ circle said that " Company plans to strongly leverage its media, gaming, cinema and broadcasting capabilities to offer its customers a unique true 3G experience.”
While the Tata Teleservices Ltd (TTSL) have given up Delhi, Mumbai and taken 3 category A and 6 category B circles. In an statement TTSL said "The company management is very delighted with the outcome of the 3G spectrum auction, especially as we have bagged the best telecom Circles from the perspective of their cumulative market potential, particularly so when we take into consideration the overall spend on these.
Significantly, we have covered the entire geography of prosperous India on the Western side, while there is no entanglement with Category 'C' circles-- therefore, this has proven to be a most capex-optimized bidding for us.TTSL did pursue the major metros in the country, but decided to drop out of the bidding when the sheer outlay made these a winner's curse"
India's 3G Spectrum Winners (Private Operators) circle wise-:
| Telecom Circle | Bharti Airtel | Vodafone | Aircel | Reliance Comm (GSM) | Idea Cellular | TataTele/ Tata Docomo | STel |
| Delhi | YES | YES | NO | YES | NO | NO | NA |
| Mumbai | YES | YES | NO | YES | NO | NO | NA |
| Kolkata | NO | YES | YES | YES | NO | NO | NA |
| Chennai & Tamilnadu | YES | YES | YES | NO | NO | NO | NA |
| Andhra Pradesh | YES | NO | YES | NO | YES | NA | |
| Assam | YES | NO | YES | YES | NO | NO | NO |
| Bihar & Jharkhand | YES | NO | YES | YES | NO | NO | YES |
| Gujarat | NO | YES | NO | NO | YES | YES | NA |
| Haryana | NO | YES | NO | NO | YES | YES | NA |
| Himachal Pradesh | YES | NO | NO | YES | YES | NO | YES |
| Jammu & Kashmir | YES | NO | YES | YES | YES | NO | NO |
| Karnataka | YES | NO | YES | NO | NO | YES | NA |
| Kerala | NO | NO | YES | NO | YES | YES | NA |
| Madhya Pradesh & Chattisgarh | NO | NO | NO | YES | YES | YES | NA |
| Maharashtra & Goa | NO | YES | NO | NO | YES | YES | NA |
| North East | YES | NO | YES | YES | NO | NO | NO |
| Orissa | NO | NO | YES | YES | NO | NO | YES |
| Punjab | NO | NO | YES | YES | YES | YES | NA |
| Rajasthan | YES | NO | YES | NO | NO | YES | NA |
| Uttar Pradesh East | NO | YES | YES | NO | YES | NO | NA |
| Uttar Pradesh West | YES | NO | NO | NO | YES | YES | NA |
| West Bengal & Sikkim | YES | YES | YES | YES | NO | NO | NA |
Read More on 3G Auction Results India's 3G Auction Ends, No Single Bidder Bid For a Pan-India 3G License
