Day 2 spectrum auction: 900MHz demand increases, bidding gets fiercer

The spectrum auction completed 5 clock rounds and in all there have been 11 clock rounds completed since the start of the auction process. The 800MHz band didn’t see much change in demand apart from Madhya Pradesh circle where the demand has doubled to 8 blocks from the initial 4 blocks that it was at the end of the 6th clock round yesterday, the available spectrum in this circle in 800MHz is 5 blocks which implies there is an excess demand of 3 blocks which will translate to an increment in the per block price by Rs. 3.95 crore in the 12th round of bidding tomorrow.

In the 900MHz band, there was increased demand in Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Kerala, Rajasthan, West Bengal and UP East circles. In the 900MHz band, there was reduced demand at the raised floor price in Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Punjab and UP West circles. In the 1800MHz band, there was reduced demand in Andhra Pradesh and increased demand in Odisha circle. In the 2100MHz ban, here were still no bids in the metro circles of Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and there was also no demand for spectrum in Odisha circle at the increased floor price. There continued to be a single bid in the 2100MHz band in Assam, North East and Rajasthan circles even at the increased floor prices.

Also read: Day 1 Spectrum Auction Report

The increased demand in Madhya Pradesh circle is an indicator that more than one operator is showing interest in the 800MHz band for deploying FD-LTE. Also , he growing demand for 900MHz indicates that the auction could go on for a long time still especially with the demand trend shifting between 900 and 1800MHz spectrum bands.