At the end of Day 16, which saw 5 new rounds of bidding, the total bids increased to over Rs 1,07,000 crore, up from Rs 1,05,000 on Day 15. The Department of Telecom informed that about 88% of the spectrum has been provisionally allocated to bidders, and there was robust bidding going on in the 1800 MHz, 900 MHz and 800 MHz bands. Day 15 (pdf) had seen a resurgence in bids in the 900 MHz band, with excess demand for spectrum in the Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh (East) and Uttar Pradesh (West) telecom circles, but on Day 16 (pdf) there was excess demand for 900 MHz spectrum in only Rajasthan circle. The reserve price for the circle has been increased by Rs 2.22 crore for the next round of bidding. Unlike Day 15, when there was excess demand for spectrum in the 800 MHz band in North East circle, there was no excess demand for spectrum in any of the circles on Day 16. Similarly, in the 1800 MHz band, there was no excess demand in any of the circles, as compared to Day 15 which saw excess demand in the Himachal Pradesh circle. The spectrum auctions commenced on March 4, with the government setting a target of raising Rs 82,000 crore. 103.75 MHz in the 800 MHz band, 177.8 MHz in the 900 MHz band, 99.2 MHz in the 1,800 MHz band and five MHz in the 2100 MHz band across 17 of the 22 circles are up for grabs during the spectrum auctions. Note that…
