The telecom spectrum auctions concluded on Tuesday after a day and a half of bidding, with the Centre garnering ₹77,814.80 crore in revenues. The amount exceeded the expectations of the government as well as analysts, as telcos focussed on renewing expiring spectrum and consolidating holdings in select bands.
Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio was the biggest bidder acquiring 488.35 MHz of spectrum for ₹57,122.65 crore, followed by Bharti Airtel which bid for 355.45 MHz of spectrum for ₹18,698.75 crore, while Vodafone Idea bid for only 11.80 MHz of airwaves for ₹1,993.40 crore. The spectrum will be assigned to bidders for a period of 20 years.
In the auction — first in nearly five years, and among the shortest one with participation from only three players — a total of 2308.80 MHz of spectrum across seven bands worth about ₹3.92 lakh crore was put up for sale. Of this, bids were received for 855.60 MHz or 37% of the spectrum.
At the end of a total of six rounds of…