Spectrum auction ends with bids worth Rs 11,000 crore; Airtel biggest bidder

New Delhi: Spectrum auction for mobile radiowaves services worth Rs 96,000 crore ended with bids worth about Rs 11,000 crore, according to sources.

The government has put over 10,500 Mhz spectrum in eight frequency bands -- 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1,800 MHz, 2,100 MHz, 2,300 MHz, 2,500 MHz, 3,300 MHz and 26 GHz, valued at Rs 96,238 crore at base price, for auction.

"There were no fresh bids in the morning session. The auction has ended with bids worth about Rs 11,000 crore," the source said, adding that Bharti Airtel has emerged as the biggest bidder in the auction.

During the last auction in 2022, which turned out to be a seven-day affair, a record over Rs 1.5 lakh crore worth of 5G telecom spectrum was sold, with billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Jio emerging as the top bidder, cornering nearly half of all the airwaves (worth Rs 88,078 crore).

At that time, telecom tycoon Sunil Mittal's Bharti Airtel made a successful bid of Rs 43,084 crore, while Vodafone Idea bought Spectrum for Rs 18,799 crore.