India’s 2G Spectrum Auction Ends, Operator And Circle-Wise List of Winners

India’s auction of 2G GSM spectrum (1800 Mhz) ended today after 14 rounds, according to preliminary reports by DoT, Norwegian telecommunications group Telenor  (known as Uninor / Telewings) won 2G Spectrum in six telecom circles and Videocon won in six telecom circles. Idea Cellular won in all seven telecom circles in which it was set to lose its licence after the court order while Bharti Airtel won spectrum in one circle and Vodafone India won in 14 telecom circles.

Telenor – Uninor failed to get 2G a licence in Mumbai,  Kolkata and West Bengal telecom circles.  Idea Cellular, Videocon and Telenor have to win  5 MHz of spectrum, divided in blocks of 1.25 MHz each, to continue their services in 6 circles out of 13 circles where their licences were cancelled.

However, existing players  like Bharti Airtel and Vodafone India whose licences were not affected by the Supreme Court order, who bid for two blocks to get extra spectrum to improve their services in respective circles.

The auction of 2G spectrum done by DoT on the orders of the Supreme Court, got a very poor response and ended after 14th rounds on the second day of bidding. Auction fetching the government just Rs. 9,407 crore, a fraction of the Rs. 40,000 crore in revenue that the government of India had hoped to get from the exercise.

Two key circles Delhi and Mumbai had no bidders; neither did Karnataka and Rajasthan. The government may put these circles on auction again later, but may have to rework prices. No Mobile Operators applied for Pan India licence, due to base price of Rs. 14,000 crore for 5 MHz of GSM spectrum in all the 22 telecom circles was too high. The DoT had planned to hold two separate auctions for airwaves used by GSM -1800 Mhz and CDMA – 800 Mhz. But the CDMA auction had to be cancelled after both bidders Videocon and Tata Teleservices (Tata Docomo) withdrawn their bids.