The government has so far received bids worth ₹1,49,623 crore for telecom spectrum put on sale, with the bidding set to continue on Friday.
Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Thursday said 16 rounds of bidding had been completed at the end of Day 3 of the auctions, and the bidding would continue on Friday.
Bids worth ₹1,49,623 crore have been received at the end of the third day, he said. ₹1,49,454 crore was received at the end of the ninth round on Day 2 of the auctions.
“Industry is committed to taking the services to rural areas... we are seeing bidding across all spectrum bands,” the Minister told reporters.
The bids have crossed the bidding expectations of ₹80,000-90,000 crore from the entire auction, as estimated by the government and analysts. A total of 72,097.85 MHz (or 72 GHz) of spectrum worth about ₹4.3 lakh crore had been put up for sale, with participation seen from four private players — Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and Adani Data Network.
The previous record for government revenue from spectrum sale was ₹1.09 lakh crore in the auctions held in 2015.
