Pan-India BWA licence price up at Rs.2,353 crore (Lead)
May 24th, 2010 - 9:53 pm ICT by IANSNew Delhi, May 24 (IANS) India Monday concluded five rounds of an auction of airwaves for broadband wireless access (BWA) services, with the provisional winning price for a nation-wide licence reaching Rs.2,353.18 crore.
The auction, which began Monday, saw the pan-India BWA licence price going up 34.5 percent from the Rs.1,750 crore base price fixed by the government.
The government’s provisional revenues from the sale of airwaves stood at Rs.4,706.36 crore.
The government expects Rs.15,000 crore ($3.2 billion) in revenue from the BWA auction.
“I expect the competition will be very high for BWA…as competitive as 3G. I am expecting Rs.15,000 crore from the BWA auction,” Communications Minister A. Raja said.
BWA spectrum is essential for rolling out Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) services enabling hand-held devices and laptops to access the Internet.
The spectrum will allow the companies to offer high-speed Internet access as well as Internet telephony and television services. It can also be used for voice and high-speed data services.
As many as 11 companies — Bharti Airtel, Reliance WiMax, Idea Cellular, Aircel, Augere Mauritius Limited, Infotel Broadband Services, Qualcomm, Spice Internet Service Provider, Tata Communications Internet Services, Tikona Digital Networks and Vodafone Essar — are participating in the BWA auction.
It is a simultaneous online auction for two slots in each of the country’s 22 service areas.
According to the latest information available on the department of telecommunications’ website, Delhi, Mumbai, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka each attracted the bid of Rs.232.96 crore.
The government has already allocated one block of 20 MHz of unpaired spectrum each to Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) in their respective service areas.
The two state-run firms will have to pay the winners’ price.
The successful bidders in this auction can use the assigned frequency for commercial purposes immediately after they get the spectrum, the DoT has said.
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- BWA auction completes 110 rounds, accruals at $6.89 billion - Jun 09, 2010
- BWA auction accruals at $ 8.51 bn - Jun 10, 2010
- BWA auction earns $5.14 bn, pan-India licence $1.9 bn - Jun 03, 2010
- Revenue from BWA auction at $5.3 bn, pan-India licence price at $1.7 bn - Jun 01, 2010
- Revenue from BWA auction at Rs.15,735 crore - May 28, 2010
- Auction for BWA begins; Rs.15,000 crore expected - May 24, 2010
- BWA auction ends, government reaps $8.5 bn - Jun 11, 2010
- Broadband auction winners to pay up license fee by June 22 - Jun 12, 2010
- India's broadband airwaves auction to fetch $8.6 billion (Roundup) - Jun 11, 2010
- Auction of broadband airwaves starts Saturday - May 19, 2010
- Auction of 3G spectrum kicks off Friday - Apr 08, 2010
- Auction for broadband wireless services to begin Monday - May 21, 2010
- All 9 telecom companies qualify for 3G spectrum auction - Mar 30, 2010
- India reaps billions from BWA auction, biggies stay away (Lead) - Jun 11, 2010
Tags: aircel, bharat sanchar nigam, bharat sanchar nigam ltd, bsnl, communications internet services, digital networks, high speed data, high speed data services, high speed internet, high speed internet access, internet service provider, internet telephony, mahanagar telephone nigam ltd, mtnl, mumbai maharashtra, online auction, sanchar nigam ltd, tamil nadu, vodafone essar, worldwide interoperability