NEW DELHI: The value of 3G auction has gone up to over Rs 86.62 billion, but a trend is emerging that bids are touching the roof in circles where 2G spectrum is in scarcity.

A Telecom Ministry official told indiantelevision.com that while it was too early to predict, the overall bid price was expected to go up to almost four times the floor price, particularly in the larger states and the metros.
 
The bid for Mumbai stands at Rs 13.29 billion, ahead of Delhi‘s Rs 12.84 billion stretch at the end of 88 rounds on day 15.

The rest of Maharashtra peaked at Rs 84.85 billion, with Tamil Nadu at Rs 7.85 billion. Karnataka closed at Rs 7.34 billion, while Andhra Pradesh had a bid of Rs 7.42 billion, and Gujarat closed at Rs 6.70 billion. Kerala rose marginally to Rs 2.60 billion, while Kolkata clocked Rs 2.56 billion.

The bids for some states are expected to rise very little. These include Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Haryana, West and East Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Orissa, Assam, Bihar, Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, and the North-East.

While West Uttar Pradesh clocked Rs 3.16 billion, Punjab stopped at Rs 1.49 billion. Bihar rose marginally to Rs 3.51 billion, Rajasthan rose to Rs 2.59 billion, and the North-East rose marginally to Rs 309 million.
 
The bids for some states remained unchanged: East Uttar Pradesh at Rs 2.60 billion, Assam and Orissa at Rs 309 million, Madhya Pradesh at Rs 2.36 billion, Haryana at Rs 2.18 billion, West Bengal at Rs 1.24 million, and Jammu & Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh service areas at Rs 300 million each.
The telecom operators in the race are Aircel, Bharti Airtel, Etisalat DB Telecom, Idea Cellular, Reliance, S Tel, Tata Teleservices, Videocon Telecommunications and Vodafone Essar.

The successful bidders would be allowed to start commercial 3G operations from 1 September.