Seven telecom operators have deposited Rs 14,653 crore as earnest money for the largest spectrum auction from October 1. The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has said that Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular and Vodafone can bid in any spectrum band in any of the telecom circles in the country.

The Telecom Commission has fixed the weighted average spectrum usage charge (SUC) at a minimum of 3 per cent of revenue, raising the user charge for Reliance Jio Infocomm and Maxis-controlled Aircel, while shooting down the formula of flat revenue share rate across all airwave bands and operators, proposed by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

Telecom operator Reliance Communications is planning to roll out a third generation (3G) intra-circle roaming (ICR)-like agreement to continue 2G service in Bihar, West Bengal and Assam after its right to use 2G spectrum expires in December.

The GSM subscriber base increased marginally in June with telecom operators adding 41.4 lakh users to take the overall base to 72.03 crore.

India´s telecommunication network is the third largest in the world and the second largest among the emerging economies of Asia. It has witnessed phenomenal growth over the last decade as substantiated by the following facts and figures

GSM operator Aircel has launched 3G services in Mumbai, making the metro its third circle after Delhi and Rajasthan.

The telecom towers business in India is lucrative with long-term growth prospects. Due to increasing penetration of advanced technologies in the market, and as telecom operators are seeking to tap into further opportunities that 3G and BwA rollouts have initiated