The government on Friday raised over Rs 38,300 crore (Rs 383 billion) as the 16-day long auction for Broadband Wireless Access spectrum came to an end.
The total revenue of the government from sale of spectrum for both 3G and BWA stands at over Rs 106,000 crore, more than thrice the earlier projection of Rs 35,000 crore (Rs 350 billion) by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in his Budget speech in February this year.
The government had raised Rs 67,719 crore (Rs 677.19 billion) from 3G spectrum auction.
With a windfall of over Rs 70,000 crore (Rs 700 billion), the government will be in a position to improve the fiscal deficit for the current financial year.
On the lines of 3G, Mumbai and Delhi received the highest bid amounts of more than Rs 2,272 crore (Rs 22.72 billion) and Rs 2,221 crore (Rs 22.21 billion), respectively.
The BWA auction had two slots of 20 MHz of pan-India spectrum. BSNL and MTNL, which have been given BWA spectrum ahead of private players, will have to pay the equivalent of the winning bid in each service area.
As many as 11 companies, including Bharti Airtel, Reliance, Idea Cellular, Aircel, Vodafone and Tata Communications Internet Services, participated in the auction for Broadband Wireless Access spectrum.
BWA spectrum enables high-speed Internet access as well as Internet telephony and TV services. It can also be used for voice and high-speed data services.
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Column: The Pranab Mukherjee Budget
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