Telecom firms offered bids totalling Rs 56,554.92 crore for 900 Mhz and 1800 Mhz bands after 42 rounds at the end of sixth day of spectrum auction today.

“A total of 42 rounds are over. Bids worth around Rs 33,082.58 crore are received for 1800 Mhz and Rs 23,472.34 crore for 900 Mhz. A total of Rs 56,554.92 crore. Auction will continue on Monday,” Telecom Secretary, MF Farooqui said.

He said there will a realisation of at least Rs 16,750 crore in the current fiscal if the operators opt to pay in instalments.

The bidders can pay part of the money upfront and the remaining amount over a maximum of 10 yearly instalments.

The sixth day of auction today started off with the 36th round this morning. At the end of 35 rounds yesterday, bids worth around Rs 54,600 crore were received by the government.

The price in Delhi for 900 Mhz has more than doubled to Rs 733.63 crore per MHz from the base price of Rs 360 crore.

Mumbai was up 71.67 per cent to Rs 563.09 crore per MHz from Rs 328 crore per MHz. In Kolkata, price was up 55.70 per cent to Rs 194.63 crore per MHz from a base price of Rs 125 crore.

As per the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), there was bidding for 11 blocks out of 16 put up for sale in Delhi, 5 out of 16 blocks in Mumbai and 12 out of 14 blocks in Kolkata for the premium 900 Mhz band at the end of sixth day.

For 1800 Mhz band, Assam witnessed over tripling of the base price to Rs 22.1 crore per MHz from Rs 7 crore. Assam witnessed an excess demand of 5 blocks whereas Maharashtra saw an excess demand of 10 blocks for 1800 Mhz.

The budget for 2013-14 set a total target of Rs 40,874 crore from spectrum revenue in this fiscal. A bumper collection from airwaves auction would help the government keep rising fiscal deficit under control.

The country’s fiscal deficit at Rs 5.16 lakh crore has already crossed 95 per cent of budget target in the first nine months of 2013-14.

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