India’s wireless broadband auction has come to a close with Infotel Broadband Services emerging as the only party to claim a nationwide licence.
Infotel will pay US$2.75bn for spectrum in each of India’s 22 operating circles with the government raking in…
India’s wireless broadband auction has come to a close with Infotel Broadband Services emerging as the only party to claim a nationwide licence.
Infotel will pay US$2.75bn for spectrum in each of India’s 22 operating circles with the government raking in a total of US$8.23bn from the process.
Tikona Digital Networks was successful in bidding for five circles, Bharti Airtel and US chipmaker Qualcomm picked up spectrum in four circles and Augere acquired spectrum in one circle.
Other leading mobile operators including Vodafone, Reliance Communications and Idea Cellular all went without any spectrum.
The result of the auction still needs to be verified by the government, which earned US$14.4bn from the auction of 3G licences in May.
State-owned MTNL and BSNL were both allotted spectrum without being required to take part in either auction.
Those that have been awarded spectrum will be able to offer high-speed wireless internet services.