Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular and Vodafone harnessed all their resources to maximise their footprint in the highly-efficient 900MHz band. Consequently, these operators bagged almost entire available spectrum in the band; Reliance Communications was an exception, which won 5MHz spectrum in 2 circles.

While Bharti won 5MHz or more in the 900MHz band in 7 circles, Idea managed to secure it in all the 9 circles where it was seeking renewal. Tata Teleservices, Reliance Jio and RCOM had trained their guns on the 800MHz spectrum, while 1800MHz spectrum evinced interest from all participants. Bharti added 2100MHz spectrum in 7 circles, taking total circles where it has 3G spectrum to 20, while Idea added 1 circle.

Commenting on the same, Edelweiss Research, said, ''While Bharti, Vodafone and Idea dominated 900MHz and 2100MHz spectrum auctions, RJIO, RCOM and TTSL were lead players in 800MHz. In our view, lower participation of smaller operators clearly portends consolidation in the industry.

High competition from incumbents to garner as much spectrum footprint as possible also implies that the industry is eyeing high data growth and higher realisations as the industry consolidates. We believe, superior spectrum footprint imparts Bharti a distinct advantage. We have 'BUY/SO' recommendations/ratings on Bharti and Idea.''

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