NEW DELHI: Unlike the enthusiasm seen during the auctions of 3G a couple of years earlier, the auction of telecom spectrum for 2G had a poor start getting no bidders who were pan India.

The concentration appeared to be on select areas such as Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh (East), and there were no bidders for the key telecom circles of Delhi, Mumbai, Rajasthan and Karnataka at the end of the fourth round of auction which started at 0900 hrs.

India is divided into 22 telecom circles. Companies can bid for circles that remain unsold in the initial rounds. One estimate said the government may get only about 40 per cent of the Rs 400 billion it expected to raise from the auctions.

There was no application for pan-India spectrum, the base price for which was set at Rs 140 billion. There is also little interest so far perhaps because the base price for 5 MHz of GSM radiowaves or spectrum in all the 22 zones is more than seven times compared to 2008.

Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Idea Cellular, Telenor and Videocon are bidding for GSM, but there are no bidders for the CDMA spectrum after Tata Teleservcies and Videocon pulled out of the race. These include the three incumbents - Bharti, Vodafone and Idea Cellular.

In the fourth round, and there were no bidders for most of the 'Category A' circles that account for 70 per cent of the base price.

Only two states - Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh - had received bids in the initial rounds.

Along with Videocon and Telenor are participating in the GSM auctions, and none of them are bidding for a pan-India airwaves.

The e-auction for the 1800 MHz band began today and that for the 800 MHz will be held two days after the close of the first auction. The payment of the successful bid amount will have to be made within ten calendar days of the close of the respective e-auctions.

In its judgment of 2 February this year, the Supreme Court had declared illegal and quashed the licences granted to the private respondents on or after 10 January 2008 pursuant to two press releases issued on 10 January 2008 and subsequent allocation of spectrum to the licensees. The direction became operative after four months.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India was asked to make fresh recommendations for grant of licence and allocation of Spectrum in 2G band in 22 Service Areas by auction, as was done for allocation of spectrum in 3G band.

The Central Government was asked to consider the recommendations of TRAI and take appropriate decision within next one month and grant fresh licences by auction.