On day one the 3G spectrum auctions witnessed huge response from bidders with the bid price escalating to Rs 3,913.81 crore from the base price of Rs 3,500 crore.

Five round of auctions were completed during the closing of the first day. The auctions would resume on Saturday.

One of the most sought after service areas, Delhi got bids from three players for the three available slots. Among all the service areas Delhi attracted the highest price Rs 373 crore, followed by Mumbai and Maharashtra at Rs 362.66 crore.. The reserve price for Delhi was set at Rs 320 crore.

Altogether nine applicants participated in the bidding process. These players include Aircel, Bharti Airtel, Idea, Reliance, Tata Teleservices Vodafone, S Tel, Videocon and Etisalat DB Telecom.

The Department of Telecom (DoT) on its website stated that Category A circles such as Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka saw aggressive bidding on par with top metros at Rs of Rs 362.66 crore each.

There will be multiple, round-the-clock auction simultaneously for 22 circles. There are three and four slots of 3G spectrum. The government has set a target of raising up to Rs 35,000 crore from the auction of spectrum for 3G and BWA sepctrum.

The department has fixed the reserve price for broadband wireless access (BWA) spectrum at Rs 1,750 crore. There are three slots for BWA. The auction for BWA spectrum is scheduled two days after the 3G auctions are concluded.