In response to the online auction for 2G telecom spectrum,the government received bids worth about 9,280 crore rupees at the end of five rounds on Day 1. Telecom Secretary R Chandrashekhar said, in 176 blocks of spectrum in 22 telecommunications zones in the country that were put on auction, bids were received only for 98. Telecom Secretary said, the spectrum reserve price exceeded in UP (West) and UP (East) circles. Gujarat and Bihar received bids for all 8 blocks (of 1.25 MhZ each) that were put for auction. The government had set a bid starting price of 14,000 crore rupees for 5 megahertz of GSM airwave space in all the zones.

The government had hoped to raise about 40,000 crore rupees in revenue. Two key circles-Delhi and Mumbai-did not receive any bids on the first day.

At the end of the fifth round there had been bids for 98 blocks across 18 circles of the total 176 blocks in 22 circles that were up for grabs.

No player has applied for a pan-India licence.

Telcos will get another chance to bid for circles that remain unsold after the initial rounds of bidding. And then, if there are still interested bidders, the auction will continue the next day. The government is yet to decide on what will be done in circles that remain unsold after the auction ends. Till it does, no bidders in a circle will mean only the existing players will keep operating in that circle. Bidding for each circle is happening separately. Many circles have so far seen fewer bidders than the number of blocks up for grabs, which means an auction is not possible for those circles.

Last week, the Supreme Court pulled up the government for not following its February 2nd order of auctioning the entire 2G spectrum made available after cancellation of 122 licences.

The government has to file an affidavit by November 19 on why it is not implementing the Supreme Court's 2G order in full.