(4 May 2010 10:55 pm)

MUMBAI: After three weeks of competitive bidding for the 3G spectrum and 122 rounds of bidding, the pan India price at the 3G auction reached Rs 98.2 billion – nearing thrice the floor price of Rs 35 billion.

The bid for Mumbai crossed Rs 18 billion mark with Rs 18.16 billion, ahead of Delhi's Rs 17.56 billion. The rest of Maharashtra clocked Rs 10.52 billion.

The bids for most states are expected to rise very little with the auction having come to a virtual end in service areas including Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Punjab, Haryana, West and East Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Assam, Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and the North East.

The telecom operators in the race are Aircel, Bharti Airtel, Etisalat DB Telecom, Idea Cellular, Reliance, S Tel, Tata Teleservices, Videocon Telecommunications and Vodafone Essar.

The successful bidders would be allowed to start commercial 3G operations from 1 September.