NEW DELHI: With the Pan-India total crossing Rs 120 billion to close at just over Rs 122.57 billion, the Bandwidth Access (BWA) auction has proved the confidence providers have in the growth of the Internet in the country, even as the bidding is expected to close shortly.

After 110 rounds on the fourteenth, the bids for Mumbai and Delhi crossed the Rs Rs 20 billion mark with Rs 21529.5 million and Rs 21010.2 million respectively.
 
Tamil Nadu closed at Rs 19310.6 million, Karnataka was at Rs 15279.8 million, Andhra Pradesh clocked Rs 9977.8 million; and Gujarat was at Rs 5783.1 million.

While Kerala was at Rs 2437 million; East Uttar Pradesh closed at Rs 1329.5 million; Madhya Pradesh clocked Rs 1163 million, and Haryana closed at Rs 1118.7 million.

Rajasthan closed at Rs 935.4 million, Bihar at Rs 983 million; West Bengal clocked Rs 643 million; Orissa closed with Rs 630 million, Assam at Rs 308.3 million; the North-East and Jammu and Kashmir closed at Rs 198.7 million each, and Himachal Pradesh was at 194.9 million. 
 
The bids for four service centres remained unchanged: the rest of Maharashtra at Rs 9156.4 million; Kolkata at Rs 5232 million; Punjab at Rs 3322.7 million; and West Uttar Pradesh at Rs 1784.7 million.

The rest of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Kolkata, Punjab, West Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar and Orissa are unlikely to see any increase with no applications for price increment for tomorrow’s rounds.

Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and North-East are expected to see minimal increase with bids of just over Rs one million each.

The telecom operators in the race are Aircel, Augere (Mauritius) Limited, Bharti Airtel, Infotel Broadband Services Private Limited, Qualcomm Incorporated, Reliance WiMax Limited, Spice Internet Service, Provider Private Limited, Tata Communications Internet Services Limited, Tikona Digital Networks Private Limited and Vodafone Essar Limited.

The successful bidders would be allowed to start commercial operations from 1 September.