Successful bidders to get BWA spectrum soon

The government on Friday said successful bidders for BWA spectrum -- including Infotel, which was acquired by Mukesh Ambani-led RIL -- will get the frequency next week, paving the way for subscribers to get mobile broadband services by the end of this year.

"We will give Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) spectrum next week to all the successful bidders next week simultaneously," Ashok Chandra, wireless advisor to the Department of Telecom (DoT), said.

Infotel was the only company which bagged pan-India BWA spectrum for Rs 12,847.77 crore (Rs 128.47 billion), while other companies managed to get spectrum in a few circles.

The government has earned Rs 38,543 crore (Rs 385.43 billion) from the sale of BWA spectrum. US-based technology provider Qualcomm has got spectrum in four circles, including Delhi and Mumbai.

The company will have to rope in a local partner with at least a 26 per cent stake to become eligible for offering services in India. The country's largest mobile operator, Bharti Airtel, had also won spectrum in four circles.

The BWA spectrum was auctioned with the objective of offering wireless mobile broadband services. Operators have different options like WiMax and Long Term Evolution (LTE) for mobile broadband.

RIL has already announced an up to USD 5 billion investment in the telecom sector and has plans to offer 4G mobile broadband services using the 20 Mhz of BWA spectrum secured by Infotel.