NEW DELHI: The largest spectrum auction is scheduled to begin from October 1 as all telecom majors including Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Idea, Reliance Communications, Aircel, Reliance Jio, Tata communications have submitted their applications for bidding. The auction will witness airwaves worth Rs 5.63 lakh crore go on sale.
Manoj Sinha, telecom minister feels that service providers not buying airwaves will not be able to take on competition and expects an enthusiastic participation. He further added that companies need spectrum to give good quality service, increase revenue and “maintain a good image”.
The government will start the mega spectrum auction in which mobile frequencies in all bands - 700 Mhz, 800 Mhz, 900 Mhz, 1800 Mhz, 2100 Mhz and 2300 Mhz - will be put on the block. All the radiowaves being put up for auction can be used for high-speed 4G services.
Considering the estimated level of participation in the auction, the industry debt would go up to around Rs 4,60,000 crore, according to the rating agency ICRA.