India’s mega spectrum auction raises just $9.8b

India’s major spectrum auction has ended after five days of bidding, raising 657.89 billion rupees ($9.86 billion), far less than the up to $83 billion the government had been anticipating.

Just 40% of the airwaves placed on the auction block were sold, with no bids at all for the expensive 700-MHz and 900-MHz bands, the Economic Times reported.

Vodafone emerged as the biggest spender in the auction, spending 202.8 billion rupees for 2 x 82.6MHz of FDD and 200MHz of TDD spectrum across the 1800-MHz, 2100-MHz and 2500-MHz bands in all its key telecoms circles. The operator now has 4G capability in 17 of India’s 22 circles.

Newcomer Reliance Jio Infocomm paid 136.72 billion rupees to build a warchest of 269.2MHz of additional spectrum in the 800-MHz, 1800-MHz and 2300-MHz bands.

The operator acquired spectrum across all 22 telecoms circles, but in no circle did the company acquire spectrum in all three bands. Jio said its total spectrum footprint has now grown to 1,108-MHz, further cementing its lead in terms of liberalized spectrum holdings.

India’s largest operator Bharti Airtel paid 142.44 billion rupees for an additional 173.8MHz of spectrum in the 1800-MHz, 2100-MHz and 2300-MHz bands. The operator now has 4G spectrum in all circles. Idea Cellular spent around $1.92 billion.

All seven participants in the auction acquired at least some spectrum