3G windfall to hit Rs 1 lakh cr

May 31, 2010 - Age Correspondent |

New Delhi

The government could get over Rs 1 lakh crore from the auction of the airwaves. The price of single wirless broadband (BWA) licence in the ongoing auction, within one week has reached Rs 6,300 crore and the demand is still going strong in key circles of New Delhi and Mumbai.

Infact, the excess demand in BWA is much higher than it was in case of 3G. Unlike 3G, BWA auction has seen participation from the foreign players. There are 11 players in the race for two blocks of BWA spectrum, which has been put on sale. There were nine
operators for the 3 to 4 slots of 3G spectrum. In case the price of a single BWA licence reaches Rs 11,000 crore, the government will get over Rs one lakh crore from spectrum auctions. The government has already got Rs 67,718 crore from the 3G auction, where the price of a single license had gone to Rs 16,751 crore.
The high revenue from the auction of spectrum will help the government to bridge the high fiscal deficit, which was a result of various stimulus packages announced by it to help the economy to come out of the slowdown. All the major telecom players including Airtel, Vodafone, Reliance, Idea and Tata are in race for the BWA licence.
The telecom players who didn't get spectrum for the circles of choice in 3G auction may try to grab BWA spectrum. Besides telecos, international technology major Qualcomm is one of the serious contender in the race for acquiring BWA. The American major wants to introduce a new type of technology in BWA.

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