Our coverage of the 2G Auctions is brought to you by OnMobile Global, India’s leading Mobile Value Added Services [VAS] company The forthcoming 2G spectrum auction seems to have at least got a better response than the previous one: Telecom Secretary M.F. Farooqui has told IANS that eight telcos have submitted their respective bids for the 2G spectrum auctions happening next month. Among the applicants include India's largest telco Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Idea Cellular, RIL's Reliance Jio, Telenor's Telewings, Aircel, Reliance Communications and Tata Teleservices. Farooqui said most of the telcos have applied for both the 900MHz and 1800MHz band while only one or two may have applied in the 1800MHz band alone. Note that yesterday was the last day for telcos to submit their applications to participate in both 1800 MHz and 900 MHz auctions. They now have until January 27 to withdraw these bids and the auction is expected to start on February 3, 2014. Full timetable here. Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has put up a total 46 MHz in the 900MHz band and around 403.2 MHz of spectrum in the 1800MHz band for the auction sale. It hopes to raise Rs 48,000 crore from these auctions if it is all sold at the approved reserve price, which has been set at Rs 1,765 crore per MHz for 1800MHz spectrum. For 900MHz spectrum, the base price is set at Rs 360 crore per MHz for Delhi, Rs 328 crore for Mumbai and Rs 125 crore for Kolkata. This auction is critical for both Airtel and Vodafone to retain their licenses in…
