3G auction: Delhi most sought after circle, pan-India price Rs 15,814 cr

The bid for 3G spectrum in Delhi on Saturday crossed Rs 3,032.85 crore, a nearly 10-time jump over the base price of Rs 320 crore, making it the most in demand circle.
As the pan-India bid on Saturday touched Rs 15,814 crore on the 31st day of auction process, the government is assured of Rs 63,885 crore revenue from the sale of spectrum for 3G mobile services.
The government had estimated a revenue of Rs 35,000 crore from sale of 3G radio waves and Broadband wireless access (BWA) spectrum combined.
With excess demand for spectrum in only a few circles such as Kolkata, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Orissa, the auction is likely to end early next week.
Mumbai is the next most expensive service area after Delhi as its bid stood at Rs 2,998.66 crore.
The base price for a national 3G licence was fixed at a low Rs 3,500 crore.
Nine leading mobile operators, including Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, RCom and Tatas, are up against one another to grab spectrum.
The government is selling three blocks of spectrum in most of states and four slots in five states of Punjab, Bihar, Orissa, Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh.
Telecom Minister A Raja had recently expressed confidence that the government might garner up to Rs 55,000 crore from the 3G and BWA spectrum auctions.
After the closure of auction for 3G, the government would start the auction for BWA for which as many as 11 operators are in the fray. 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.
Third generation or 3G telephony allows subscribers to download data at high speed and stream videos on mobile phones.
The radio waves are being auctioned across 22 circles and the bidding would be closed once the price is discovered in all the service areas simultaneously.