After successfully closing 3G auctions at almost $15 billion (677.2 billion INR), India is opening bid for broadband wireless access (BWA) spectrum. 11 applicants have been approved to take part in the auctions — including Aircel, Augere (Mauritius), Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular, Infotel Broadband Services, Qualcomm, Reliance WiMax, Spice Internet Service Provider, Tata Communications Internet Services, Tikona Digital Networks and Vodafone Essar.
Qualcomm is especially interesting (as reported earlier), as it plans to push the TD-LTE technology in the 2.3 GHz spectrum.
The government’s plan is to auction two slots of radio bandwidth in each of India’s 22 circles, with the base price for one pan-India slot set at 17.5 billion INR ($384 million), which is a half of the 3G auction’s minimum. According to some analysts, the BWA auction could be just as competitive as that in the 3G spectrum, and may also take at least a month.
We’ll definitely watch the space and keep you folks in the loop. Stay tuned…
[Via: MobileBusinessBriefing]