How India's spectrum auction is good news for the industry

The ongoing Indian government’s wireless microwave spectrum auction is touching a whopping Rs 53,000 Crore mark and is bringing in good news for a telecom sector that has been clouded by a corruption scandal and a blessing for pushing the government’s bottom line as well.

"This is really a big good news for the industry. The logic is pretty simple, when the operators are ready to pay this kind of price, there will be seriousness in the market and hence, customers will get exactly what they want. Additionally, this is also good news for the telecom equipment players as operators would again be looking forward to expansions and strengthening of their network," explained, a high ranking official from DoT on conditions of anonymity.

It is important to note that at the end of fourth day of this auction schedule, telecom companies have jointly made bids of worth about Rs 52,689 crore. And on the spectrum bifurcation, the government has got bids of around Rs 30,754 crore for 1800 Mhz band and Rs 21,935 crore for 900 Mhz band of spectrum.

The government has put on auction about 385 megahertz of spectrum airwaves in the 1800 Mhz band, which started on February 3, 2014. The government of India is auctioning airwaves in 900 Mhz band in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata, which are held by Vodafone, Airtel and Loop Mobile through their licenses which are expiring in November 2014.

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