Airtel, Idea shares in focus as spectrum auction ends

Shares of Telecom companies on Friday will be in focus after the biggest spectrum auction concluded on Thursday.

Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular and Reliance Industries were among the highest bidders. 

On Thursday, the shares of Bharti Airtel closed at Rs 322.85 per piece, up 0.23%, or Rs 0.75 on BSE. While, the shares of Idea Cellular, ended at Rs 79.90 per piece, down 0.06%, or Rs 0.05 on the same exchange. However, the shares of Reliance Industries closed at Rs 1111.10 per piece, up 2%, or Rs 21.80 on BSE.

The five-day auction which concluded yesterday, after 31 rounds, that had got the bids worth Rs 65,789 crore. This spectrum auction was expected to fetch bids worth Rs 5.63 lakh crore. Which means, the government has lost nearly Rs 5 lakh crore in the spectrum auction. 

New entrant in Telecom sector, Mukesh Ambani led Reliance Jio acquired 269.2 Mhz spectrum in the 800 Mhz, 1800 Mhz and 2300 Mhz for Rs 13,672 crore.

Bharti Airtel, which was among the seven bidders, on Thursday in a release said that it had acquired 173.8 Mhz spectrum across 1800/2100/2300 MHz bands for a total consideration of Rs 14,244 crore in the latest spectrum auction.

While, Aditya Birla led telecom arm, Idea Cellular had acquired 349.20Mhz of spectrum for Rs 12,798 crore.

Most of the activities were seen for 2100 Mhz spectrum, which got sold out on the first day of the auction and 1800 MHz becoming the second popular choice of telecoms.

As per the data released by Department of Telecom, the 2100Mhz received bids worth Rs 12,040 crore. The 1800 Mhz received bids worth Rs 531 crore. The 800Mhz collected bids worth Rs 1153.9 crore. The 2300Mhz received bids worth Rs 7895.06 crore. The 2500Mhz collected bids worth Rs 5870.8 crore.

After the conclusion of the auction, the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) said that the tepid response to spectrum in 700 MHz is owed to a high reserve price. The lack of enthusiasm was majorly due to its unrealistic pricing, high debt and single-digit growth that the industry is currently reeling under.

Seven telecom companies had applied for this spectrum auction, and together had brought in bids of around Rs 14,563 crore.

The government was auctioning for the largest ever spectrum 2,354 MHz across seven bands -  700 Mhz, 800 Mhz, 900 Mhz, 1800 Mhz, 2100 Mhz and 2300 Mhz.  The radiowaves can be used for 2G, 3G and high-speed 4G mobile services.

Reliance Jio, Vodafone, Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular, Tata Teleservices, Reliance Communications and Aircel are in the fray for the spectrum auction.