The Pan-India price for a slot of Broadband Wireless Spectrum at the end of just five days of India’s BWA Auction, has zoomed ahead of the BWA spectrum price, pushed up largely due to high demand for a few circles, namely, Delhi, Mumbai and Karnataka. The rate of increase is now dropping - 19.6% for the day, compared to 25.37% the previous day; the price had risen more than 30% on each of the first three days. Note that the minimum activity level requirement remains at 80%, and bids will increase as levels are pushed up first to 90% and then 100%. The current Pan-India price, at the end of 34 clock rounds, was Rs. 4523.08 cr (258.46%) above the base price of Rs. 1750 crore, rising Rs. 1027 cr on the day. Government revenue stands at Rs. 18,819.24 cr, of which Rs. 12546.16 cr will be from private operators, 11 of whom are bidding. The pace of growth in price has undoubtedly been higher than in case of the 3G Auction, which took 9 days to cross the Rs. 6473 cr mark, and 25 days to rise more than 258% of its base price. But the bids in the BWA auction are heavily lop sided: price for 11 circles did not increase on the day. -- Delhi, Mumbai, Karnataka are priced on par, increasing by Rs. 200 cr (32.63%) on the day to Rs. 812.86 cr. Demand for Delhi and Mumbai circles was in excess by 6 bids, with…
