Results are out – India’s 2G Spectrum Auction ends with a disappointment in just 2 days

The much talked and hyped 2G Spectrum Auction in India came to a disappointing end for both the Government and the mobile phone users as some of the existing telecom license holders whose license were cancelled by the Supreme Court in February this year failed to win the spectrum in some circles and Government of India could get just 9,047 crores, way less than it expected.

The 2G Specturm Auction (1800 Mhz) started just a couple of days back on the 12th November, 2012 and ended today only with just 14 rounds of bidding. Well it could have ended on the first day itself but some operator showed more than expected interest for the Bihar telecom circle. We must remind you here that the 3G Auction took more than a month to complete.

Earlier the Governent of India fixed the price of the 2G Spectrum at a very high price of Rs. 14,000 crores for 5Mhz Pan India Spectrum, which many think was a deterrent.

Well now talking about which operator won which circle. After the result of the 2G Spectrum Auction, the people of Mumbai would be most unhappy as 2 of the new comers, Videocon and Uninor did not even bid for the spectrum there and after the final result, both companies will now have to shut their service in Mumbai by 18th January,2013 only. Uninor (Telenor/Telewings) will now operate in 6 circles only and they are – Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Maharashtra, UP East & UP West only.

Similarly, Videocon too would be allowed to continue its services in just 6 circles, namely Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Madhya Pradedsh, UP East and UP West. Idea Cellular which lost its license in 7 circles following Supreme Courts order won back all the circles. Here are circles which Idea won back – Assam, Bihar, Jammu & Kashmir, Kolkata, North East, Orissa, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.

Incumbents operators Vodafone and Airtel too participated in the Auctions and interestingly Vodafone won EXTRA Spectrum in 14 circles in order to improve its services. The circles are Assam, Bihar, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, North East, Orissa, Punjab, UP East, UP West and West Bengal. Airtel won the additional spectrum in just one circle – Assam.

Bihar came out as the most aggressive circle and Top circles like Delhi and Mumbai failed to attract any bidders because of their very high price and the same goes for Karnataka and Rajasthan which did not get even a single bid.

But the outcome of this spectrum may not be that sad for the Delhiites. As per the earlier decision of the Cabinet, if there is available spectrum, Tata DOCOMO GSM would get 4.2 Mhz of start up spectrum for Delhi. Tata DOCOMO GSM has been waiting to launch its services in Delhi since 2008 only but lack of available spectrum came in the way.

But since now we have no bidder and winner for Delhi, there is plenty of spectrum available and being a Delhiite, i am eagerly waiting for Tata DOCOMO GSM to land in my territory :-).

Finally, here is the list of Spectrum Winner in 2G Auctions 2012: