In the wake of Indian Politicians behaving as though Wireless Spectrum is their inherited property, we decided to do a complete study on the pricing of spectrum ever since the Wireless Licenses for Mobile Services were provided by the Government of India. Here is the result of our study,
Wireless Spectrum Priving / MHz in India since 1992
- 1992 – Liberalization of the Indian Economy begins – First two rounds of the allocation process for nationwide spectrum raised Rs3,400 crore for 4.4 Mhz, valuing each Mhz at Rs770 crore [1 Crore = 10 million]
- 1999 – The third licence in every circle was given free to state-run BSNL and MTNL
- 2001 – Economies recover from the Dot Com Bust and Face 9/11 issue. Government auctions fourth licence for a total of
Rs1,651 crore for 4.4 Mhz, valuing each Mhz at Rs375 crore - 2008 – Five new operators were given spectrum at 2001 rates [Courtesy A. Raja, Telecom Minister of India], despite resistance from telecom bloggers.
- 2010 – the price of one national slot of 5 Mhz of 3G spectrum is going for Rs8,914 crore, valuing each Mhz at Rs1,782 crore. The auction is ongoing.
- You can see how each operator is allotted 2G / 2.5G GSM / CDMA Spectrum in India as on today.
