On the 26th of April 2010, India's 3G Auction recorded the lowest rate of increase in the pan-India price 2.91 percent, to close at Rs. 89.14 million. The price is now 154.69 percent above the base price of Rs. 35 billion, and after 16 days and 94 rounds of bidding, it doesn't appear as if we're too far from a close; Or so we hope. At the end of the 94th round, the demand for most of the circles - especially Delhi (Rs. 13.5 billion per slot) and Mumbai (leading at Rs. 13.83 billion per slot) - was less than the supply. 11 of 22 circles did not register an increase in price over the previous day. The maximum increase in price was registered by - an easy guess - Delhi at 5.1 percent and Mumbai at 4.06 percent. Demand was on par with supply for just three circles: Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan, while only Tamil Nadu and Kolkata received excess bids. Bid prices for 17 of the 22 circles will not be increased when the auction resumes today, but one can never tell what will spur demand. Yesterday, at Bharti Airtel's media conference post its financial results, Akhil Gupta, Deputy Group CEO and MD of Bharti Enterprises and a Director of Bharti Airtel Limited had said that the activity rates are at around 90%, and "It’s a no brainer that when the costs (of spectrum) go up, the pricing (of services) goes up as well." Our coverage of…
