Broadband auction...All-India price soars to Rs41.84bn

Bids for one set of all-India licence for broadband wireless access (BWA) reached Rs41.84bn on the third day of the auction on Wednesday. This is about 139% above the base price of Rs17.50bn set by the Government for a pan-India BWA slot. There was no auction on Thursday on account of a public holiday. Bidding process for the auction of BWA spectrum began on Monday. It is a simultaneous online auction for two slots in each of the country's 22 service areas. As per the details given by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), six more Clock Rounds were completed on Wednesday. Thus total number of clock round completed comes to 16. The Round Price in Round 16 for Delhi, Mumbai, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu service areas has been recorded at Rs4.53bn each. At this price, the Government is expected to garner Rs122.96bn. The Government expects a revenue of Rs150bn (US$3.2bn) from the auction of BWA airwaves, Telecommunications Minister A. Raja said on Monday. "I expect the competition will be very high for BWA as competitive as 3G. I am expecting Rs150bn from the BWA auction," Raja said in Hyderabad on the sidelines of an international telecom conference.