Curtain down for 3G and Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) entries today but foreign players

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give it a miss. On the final day the department of telecom (DoT) received a total of nine applications for 3G and 11 for BWA spectrum.

Some of the global telcos such as AT&T, Orange, Telefonica, Verizon, Sprint, France Telecom, O2 and Telestra had earlier evinced interest to bid for 3G spectrum. According to industry experts uncertainty of granting 2G spectrum for successful 3G new entrants had dissuaded the companies to bid for spectrum.

Research analyst from Karvy Broking, Harit Shah told Financial Chronicle, "3G is not an attractive proposition for foreign operators as it is unlikely that the operators would be granted 2G spectrum. It makes sense for existing operators who already hold a significant market share."

Augere Mauritius Limited is the only foreign company to have submitted its application for BWA. Augere's launched wireless broadband service in Pakistan in July 2009 and was closely followed by the Bangladesh network in October 2009.

The list of applicants for 3G spectrum are Aircel, Bharti Airtel, Etisalat DB Telecom, Idea Cellular, Reliance Telecom, S Tel, Tata Teleservices, Vodafone Essar and Videocon Telecommunications.

The list of applicants for BWA auction includes Aircel, Augere (Mauritius), Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular, Infotel Broadband Services Private Limited, Qualcomm Inc., Reliance WiMax Limited, Spice Internet Service Provider, Tata Communications, Tikona Digital Networks and Vodafone Essar.

The government has identified to auction three slots for 3G and two slots of broadband wireless access (BWA) spectrum. The government has fixed the reserve price of 3G spectrum at Rs 3,500 crore and BWA or WiMax spectrum at Rs 1,750 crore.