Auction of broadband wireless access (BWA) spectrum kicked off on Monday, closing at Rs 2,353 crore for a nation-wide license. This is a 34.5% increase over the Rs 1750 crore base price fixed by the government. 

This new BWA auction offers 2 blocks of 20MHz in the 2.3GHz band across the same 22 service areas.

Total revenues from the sale of 3 slots of BWA spectrum at the end of Day 1 of the bidding stood at Rs 6,940 crore.

As many as 11 operators are in the fray for BWA spectrum.  The reserve price for BWA spectrum has been fixed at Rs 1,750 crore and only two slots of 20 MHz each are on the block.

11 telecom companies  "Aircel Ltd, Augere (Mauritius), Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular, Infotel Broadband Services, Qualcomm, Reliance WiMax, Spice Internet Service Provider, Tata Communications Internet Services, Tikona Digital Networks and Vodafone Essar"  have qualified for the broadband and wireless access (BWA) auction.