With the dust clearing on a storied application process for India's upcoming 1800-MHz spectrum auction, five operators are left in the running.
Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular, Vodafone India, Videocon and Telenor's new JV Telewings will all participate in the auction, due to commence on Monday, Press Trust of Indiareported.
Each will submit bids for the first lot of spectrum vacated from the cancellation of 122 2G licenses following a court decision in February.
Of the applicants, only Idea, Telenor (through prior joint venture Uninor) and Videocon had licenses revoked in the cancellation, and only Uninor and Videocon had all their operating licenses pulled.
Other companies hit by the revocation decision – including Etisalat DB and S Tel – have already decided to withdraw from the market.
The low number of bidders could be bad news for the government, which is relying on the auction to raise much-needed funds.
In another blow to its plans, the department of telecom will likely have to cancel plans for a concurrent auction of 800-MHz for CDMA use, after the last bidder withdrew its application to apply.
Tata Teleservices pulled out of the auction this week. Videocon, which had been planning to bid for GSM and CDMA spectrum simultaneously, previously also pulled out of the auction.
Reliance Industries, the Indian conglomerate returning to telecom after a long absence, had widely been expected to take part in the GSM auction, but did not apply.
But Indian pundits have been speculating that Videocon may partner or merge with Reliance Industries if it wins spectrum in the allocation.