Government Rs 60,000 crore commitments from first day of spectrum
The spectrum auction for the year 2015 started on 4th March. After the first day the government has managed to extract commitments worth Rs 60,000 crore from the operators fighting to get the airwaves. During the first day of the spectrum the government managed to complete six rounds of bidding and witnessed higher commitments than the reserve price of Rs 49,000.
The spectrum auction for the airwaves in the 2100 MHz, 1800 MHz, 900 MHz and 800 MHz began in between a lot of protests from some of the telecom operators complaining about the high price set by the government and low availability of spectrum. As reported by PTI, an official stated that, there is still spectrum, which is yet to be sold. Bidding would recommence on Thursday.
The government is all set to earn around Rs 1 lakh crore from the sale of radiowaves as the telcos has deposited Rs 20,435 crore as the earnest money for spectrum auction. As per the PTI report, the telecom operators have deposited Rs 20,345 crore as the earnest money deposit (EMD) which highlights the fierce bidding which is set to take place in the upcoming auction.