Bharti bags 8 out of 17 new licenses in India

NEW DELHI, India—Bharti Cellular has won the maximum number of eight licenses in the bidding for fourth cellular licenses in 17 Indian telecom circles, or coverage areas. The Indian government will gain more than 16 billion rupees (US$340 million) as the total entry fee from all the successful bidders of the fourth cellular license.
Bharti was successful in Mumbai, Gujarat, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Uttar Pradesh West. Escotel won in four circles—Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh East—while Hutchison-backed Barakhamba Sales bagged three licenses in Chennai, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. Birla-AT&T won the New Delhi circle, while Reliable Internet Services succeeded with the highest bid for the Kolkata circle.
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) had invited bids for the fourth operator in the four metro circles and 17 state circles. But bidding took place for only four metros and 13 state circles because there were no bids for four states. The licenses are to be granted on a nonexclusive basis, for a period of 20 years and further extendable by 10 years.
Now all the circles will have four operators each—three private and one state-owned. The cellular subscriber numbers in India crossed the 4 million mark at the end of June 2001.