Surprise, surprise: the Pan-India price for a slot of Broadband Wireless Spectrum at the end of three days of India's BWA Auction, is just shy what the 3G price for spectrum was during the same timespan. For the third day running, the pan-India price rose by over 30%. The Pan-India price rose by Rs. 986.03 crore (30.83%) during the day to close at Rs. 4183.82 crore, a massive 139% above the base price of Rs. 1750 crore, in just 16 rounds of bidding. Compare this with the 3G auction, where it took 14 days to register a 139% increase. The minimum revenue that the Indian government should expect from the BWA auction is Rs. 12551.46 crore, of which Rs. 8367.64 crore will be from private applicants. It remains to be seen whether the increase in price will continue at this pace, though the competition will be stiff - 11 applicants are vying for 2 slots of spectrum per circle in case of BWA, as compared to 9 for 3 to 4 slots of spectrum in 3G. But demand is flagging already. 11 circles reported excess demand; leading them was Delhi with 9 bids for 2 slots of spectrum, Mumbai with 8, Karnataka with 7, Andhra and Kolkata with 6, and Maharashtra and Punjab with 5. As many as 8 circles reported less than par demand. Given that there are only 2 slots available per circle, it appears that there is just no interest in bidding for them. Demand for most circles…
