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India’s latest telecom spectrum auctions concluded this week with a record spend of INR 1.09 lakh crore (USD 17.7bn). This amount surpasses even the bonanza seen in the 3G and BWA auctions of 2010, and all auctions since. The sums spent also surpass the Government’s expectation before the auctions began. The biggest three players, Airtel, Vodafone and Idea, have spent significantly more on the auction than their share of market revenue. This points to a market being hastened more towards consolidation. I continue to expect a long term position where there will be 5-6 players nationally of which 3-4 will be heavy data players and 2-3 will be cost leaders in voice. This compares to some 8-10 operators per circle today.
Here are my main takeaways from the auction:
Sources: Fitch; Economic Times; Medianama
The thoughts and opinions shared here are of the author.
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