Aggressive bidding was seen on Wednesday, the ninth day of the telecom spectrum auction, for the 1800 MHz band. The bidding took the total value of radiowaves to ₹61,093.83 crore.

“Total bids worth ₹61,091.83 crore, about 27 per cent more than the value at the base price, were received at the end of 63 rounds on the 9th day,” said Telecom Secretary MF Farooqui.

The bid value for spectrum in the 900 MHz and 1800 MHz bands has now reached over 90 per cent of the money the government received in the 3G spectrum auction in 2010, although a larger quantum of radiowaves has been put on the block in the current round.

Bids worth ₹37,502.21 crore, amounting to 106.6 per cent of radiowaves for spectrum in the 1800 MHz band, were received. However, there was no change in the price of the premium 900 MHz band, at ₹23,589.62 crore, from the previous day. The price of radiowaves in the 900 Mhz band is now 85 per cent more than the base price. The spectrum price in Assam increased to five times its base price to ₹34.75 crore per megahertz. Demand for airwaves frequencies in the 1800 Mhz band was seen in the Madhya Pradesh and Mumbai service area.

“In Madhya Pradesh, the price for the 1800 Mhz band increased by 17 per cent and in Mumbai it was up by 31 per cent. Up-front payment from this auction till date now stands at ₹18,273 crore,” said Farooqui.

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