Telecom industry now in spectrum surplus position vs surplus scarcity before last auctions: Arun Jaitely

Last year’s spectrum auctions has helped the telecom industry move to a scenario of spectrum surplus from spectrum scarcity, and will help in broadband connectivity, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitely said Wednesday.

Unveiling the Union Budget for the fiscal year 2017-18, Jaitely said that telecom was a critical part of infrastructure and was imperative for connecting the unconnected.

India sold the largest amount of spectrum last November, raising Rs 65,789.12 crore with Vodafone India and Bharti Airtel emerging as the biggest buyers of 4G airwaves, followed by newcomer Reliance Jio Infocomm and Idea Cellular.

Despite all mobile phone operators giving the expensive 700 MHz band — considered the best for 4G services — a miss, the government sold 964.8 MHz of spectrum – the highest ever – as operators beefed up on their spectrum holdings.

The telecom department had put on sale over 2300 MHz of spectrum.