THE INDIAN government raised over $8bn (£5.46bn) in an auction of licences for wireless broadband services that ended today, after companies fought for access to the fast-growing market.
The 16-day auction brought a windfall of Rs383bn ($8.2bn/£5.59bn), official figures showed, weeks after nearly $15bn (£10.24bn) were raised through the sale of 3G bandwidth for mobile telephone services.
The two auctions yielded the government almost $23bn (£15.69bn) – more than three times the amount that finance minister Pranab Mukherjee had estimated in his annual budget.
The cash is likely to be used to reduce India’s fiscal deficit and for food subsidies.
Eleven companies – including telecom majors Bharti Airtel, Reliance, Vodafone and Tata Communications – bid for the licences that enable high-speed internet access besides internet telephony and television services.
The auction also gave winners bandwidth that will in future enable faster voice and high-speed data services.
India is one of the world’s fastest growing but intensely competitive telecommunications markets in the world.
It has 48 mobile and fixed line connections per 100 people according to latest figures from the Indian telecom ministry. Broadband connections were at eight million at the end of 2009.
