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India’s 3G auction draws eight bids
19 March 2010
Eight companies have entered India’s auctions for licences to offer 3G and fixed wireless broadband
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India
3G
licence
auction
Bharti Airtel
Reliance
Tata
Vodafone Essar
Etisalat
India’s auction of third generation bandwidth and broadband wireless access has attracted eight bids. Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communication, Tata Communications, Tata Teleservices, Vodafone Essar, Etisalat DB, Tikona and Qualcomm have submitted their bids to the government.
India is selling three slots in 17 telecom service areas and four in the remaining five areas. Airtel and Reliance will bid for one slot of pan-India bandwidth, while Tata Communications, Tikona — a Mumbai-based internet service provider — and Qualcomm have tendered bids for the BWA spectrum.
The bids will start at $770 million for a slot covering all the service areas. Other companies, including Aircel and Idea Cellular, are also likely to apply.
The 3G bandwidth will allow telecom operators to offer high-speed services that can attract users willing to pay a premium for multimedia capabilities on mobile phones. It will also help existing operators make up for a shortage of second generation spectrum, especially in bigger cities. GTB