The first spectrum auction under the Modi 3.0 government was a damp squib as it fetched just ₹11,340 crore to the exchequer — a paltry 12 per cent to the government’s reserve price of ₹96,238 crore.

Bharti Airtel garnered the biggest chunk of 97 Mhz of spectrum in the auction for ₹6,856.76 crore, Vodafone Idea bought 30 Mhz for ₹3,510.40 crore and market leader Reliance Jio 14.4 Mhz for ₹973.62 crore.

Airtel bought spectrum in 900 Mhz, 1800 Mhz and 2100 Mhz bands; and Vodafone Idea in 900 Mhz, 1800 Mhz and 2500 Mhz bands. Reliance Jio bought spectrum only in 1800 Mhz bands.

The department of telecommunications defended the poor response stating that “as auction for 5G spectrum was held recently and 5G monetisation is still in progress, no bidding took place in 800 Mhz, 2300 Mhz, 3300 Mhz and 26 Ghz bands.”

The government had offered 10 Ghz of spectrum, according to PTI. An official statement said 141.4 Mhz got sold.

Telecom analyst Mahesh Uppal said: “Clearly the price is still too high. Half the bands saw no interest. Companies seem to be bidding to address imminent expiry of spectrum or for small incremental needs. Jio seems to have held back.”

Ankit Jain, vice-president of Icra, said: “The participation in this spectrum auction was largely driven by the renewals of the expiring spectrum in the 900 Mhz and 1800 Mhz bands, coupled with some purchases in the 2100 Mhz and 2500 Mhz bands to strengthen the network.

“Apart from these, there was no activity in other bands. The quantum of total spectrum sold was only 1 per cent of the total spectrum on offer, while value wise it was only 12 per cent.”

“Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea have successfully renewed their expired spectrum in 900 Mhz and 1800 Mhz bands and further an additional quantum of 87.2 Mhz worth ₹6,164.88 crore has been acquired by TSPs to augment their services,” the DoT said.

Analysts had forecast a muted response, evident in the tepid earnest money deposits submitted by the operators.

“This auction allowed us to bolster our sub-gigahertz and mid-band holdings, which will significantly improve our coverage, particularly indoors,” Gopal Vittal, managing director and CEO of Bharti Airtel, said.

Akshaya Moondra, CEO, Vodafone Idea Limited, said: “VIL has strategically acquired spectrum in the select markets to enhance and strengthen its overall spectrum portfolio. As VIL embarks on its growth journey with the fund-raising plan in place, this spectrum acquisition will further strengthen its competitive position in the market.”

Akash M Ambani, chairman, Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited, said: “This new spectrum acquisition will continue to enable us serving aspirations of the new India, in terms of growing traffic demands and superior customer experience, which is no longer limited to only urban markets. We want every Indian to enjoy the transformational benefits of Jio’s next generation of digital solutions.”

Meanwhile, Vodafone Idea announced on Wednesday that it has enlisted Samsung for the deployment of its 4G and 5G radio networks. The telecom operator stated it has been in active discussions with the Korean firm regarding new technologies, including virtualised Radio Access Network (vRAN) solutions for its 4G and 5G rollouts.