The price at the end of Day 10 increased c4.4% to USD6.0bn as compared to USD5.8bn on Day 9. This price (USD6.0bn) is c89% higher than the reserve price of USD3.2bn.
We believe at least an average of c3.4 operators remain in contention for pan-India bidding, compared to seven players at the start of the auctions. Per our computation, the total points carried forward by all the telecom operators to Round 59 (on Day 11) is c1,176, which means c1,265 eligibility points have been lost out of the initial 2,441, due to lower bidding by the operators.
Delhi witnessed the highest bids on Day 10 of the 3G auctions, with the bid amount closing at USD171m, which is c141% higher than the reserve price. Separately, Mumbai, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, U.P. (East), U.P. (West), and Rajasthan stand with an increase of over 100% over the bid price at the end of Day 10. The number of circles with negative demand increased to 13 from 11 on Day 9. Our analysis suggests bids are getting aggressive, with the bid amount exceeding the annualized revenues of the 5th operator in five markets.
