The bid price for pan-India 3G licence crossed the Rs 10,000 crore-mark on the 20th day of auction,assuring the exchequer of Rs 41,766 crore in revenue. Nine operators in the fray for 3-4 slots drove up the pan-India bid price to Rs 10,348 crore. Mumbai circle continued to attract much interest,with bids reaching Rs 1,706.07 crore - over five times the base price of Rs 320 crore. Delhi's received a bid of Rs 1,653.87 crore. Both Mumbai and Delhi circles have three slots available for auction. The government had originally estimated to collect Rs 35,000 crore from sale of spectrum (air waves) for third generation mobile services and Broadband Wireless Access (BWA). With BWA spectrum yet to be auctioned,the total collections could rise further. Telecom Minister A Raja had stated earlier that the government may garner around Rs 50,000-Rs 55,000 crore by selling 3G air waves and BWA spectrum. Mobile operators,including Bharti,Vodafone,Reliance and Tata,are among those in the fray for spectrum for 3G services,which allows subscribers to download hi-speed data and stream videos on mobile telephones. The radio waves are being auctioned across 22 circles. The successful bidders would be allotted air waves in September after the spectrum is vacated by the defence forces. A total of 116 rounds were completed.
