Shares of telecom companies surged by as much as 6 per cent on the

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BSE, a day after 3G mobile licence auction came to an end.

Shares of Idea Cellular surged 5.97 per cent to a high of Rs 55.90 and Bharti Airtel jumped to a high of Rs 265.65, up 2.35 per cent on the Bombay Stock Exchange, in the morning trade.

The auction for 3G mobile licence closed yesterday, leaving Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee with Rs 67,710 crore (around $ 15 billion), which is twice the revenue he expected to raise.

Other telecom gainers were Reliance Communications (1.57 per cent), TTML (1.01 per cent) and HFCL (0.29 per cent) and Tata Communications (0.45 per cent).

The pan-India bid for third generation spectrum stood at Rs 16,750.58 crore and Anil Ambani-led RCom bagged the highest number of 13 circles, followed by Bharti in 12, Idea in 11 and Vodafone and Tatas in nine circles each, according to the Department of Telecom (DoT).

The government had estimated to raise Rs 35,000 crore from sale of spectrum for 3G and Broadband Wireless access (BWA).

But with the auction for BWA spectrum yet to begin, the revenue mop-up could go up further.