The much-awaited auction for 2G spectrum that was freed following the cancellation of 122 telecom licences started at 9 am this morning.

The auction is for 1800 megahertz spectrum bandcurrently being used for offering 2G GSM telecom services.

The government expects to raise around 40,000 crore rupees through the auction. Five telecom operators – Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Telenor-promoted Telewings, Videocon and Idea Cellular — had applied for participating in the auctions.

AIR correspondent reports, the first round time of bidding was from 9 AM to 10 AM but completion of round will depend on participating firm as they have option to extend time for rounds. Details will made public after auction time ends.

The government is auctioning spectrum in 11 blocks having 1.25 Mhz frequency in all the circles, except in Delhi and Mumbai where there are only 8 blocks.

Out of 11 blocks in each circle, three blocks are reserved for new telecom players or operators whose 122 licences were quashed by the Supreme Court on February 2 in the 2G spectrum allocation scam case.