Bidding for the sixth round of spectrum auction for radiowaves worth Rs 3.92 lakh crore will start from March 1, according to a notice issued by the Department of Telecom (DoT) on Wednesday, Jan 6.
The long-awaited spectrum auction is being held after a gap of four years and over two years after the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) calculated and recommended base price for the radiowaves.
The DoT has fixed January 12 for the pre-bid conference and January 28 as the last date for seeking clarification to the notice. Telecom operators will need to submit their application by February 5 for participation in the auction.
The final list of the bidders will be declared on February 24 and the auction process is scheduled to begin from March 1. The Union Cabinet had approved the proposal to auction 2,251.25 Megahertz (MHz) of spectrum worth Rs 3.92 lakh crore on December 17, 2020, in seven frequency bands — 700 Mhz, 800 Mhz, 900 Mhz, 2100 Mhz, 2300 Mhz and 2500 Mhz — at the base price recommended by the TRAI.
Bitcoin soars past $40,000 for the first time
The price of the cryptocurrency bitcoin soared past $40,000 for the first time on Thursday, Jan 7, rising USD 10,000 in just five days. The price of bitcoin was USD 40,380 at roughly 1820 GMT, having jumped 10.4 per cent during the trading session. It later lost some ground and Factset data valued it at USD 38,950 dollars, up 6.52 per cent on the day, at 1850 GMT. The cryptocurrency, which has known wild swings in value, passed USD 30,000 for the first time just on Saturday. “Investors continue to hop on the cryptocurrency train which appears to be gaining more interest now that the US economy is poised to deliver more stimulus in Biden’s first 100 days,” said market analyst Edward Moya at currency trading platform Oanda. But its latest meteoric rise is already fuelling talk of a new correction.
Fellow Oanda analyst Craig Erlam warned that even if a correction does not seem imminent, once one emerges “it’s going to hurt”. And one European analyst who wished to remain anonymous told AFP that “it’s starting to get worrying — it’s no longer at all the market of a few weeks back — a correction is inevitable.” Others, at Societe Generale, said if a large fall does materialise people will likely look back at “bitcoin’s pandemic bubble.”