After 183 rounds of bidding in 34 days, the 3G spectrum auction raised approximately Rs 67,719 crore (US$15 billion) in commitments from the carriers.
After 183 rounds of bidding in 34 days, the 3G spectrum auction raised approximately Rs 67,719 crore (US$15 billion) in commitments from the carriers.
A new auction for broadband wireless access (BWA) spectrum is expected to begin within days. This new BWA auction will offer 2 blocks of 20MHz in the 2.3GHz band across the same 22 service areas.
As many as 11 operators are in the fray for BWA spectrum. The reserve price for BWA spectrum has been fixed at Rs 1,750 crore and only two slots of 20 MHz each are on the block.
DoT said 11 telecom companies “Aircel Ltd, Augere (Mauritius), Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular, Infotel Broadband Services, Qualcomm, Reliance WiMax, Spice Internet Service Provider, Tata Communications Internet Services, Tikona Digital Networks and Vodafone Essar” have qualified for the broadband and wireless access (BWA) auction.
Qualcomm’s participation in India’s Broadband Wireless Access auction is expected to help the company in accelerating the use of TD-LTE. Unlike WiMAX, TD-LTE does not have a substantial market share for encouraging vendors to develop devices. India’s 2.3 GHz spectrum band and rapidly growing demand for high broadband services is well suited for TD-LTE technology.
