Indian lenders braced for telco binge

摘要

Indian lenders are preparing for a bonanza of financings from telecom companies following the conclusion of an auction of airwaves that is expected to fetch US$16bn for the government. At least US$3bn of bridge financings are expected to emerge from the auction of a total 465 MHz of airwaves, or spectrum, in the next few weeks. Winning bidders will have to pay a quarter of their final bid amount within 15 days. In all, eight companies - aircel, bharti airtel, idea cellular,reliance communications, reliance infocomm jio, uninor, vodafone india and tata teleservices - are bidding in the auction that started on March 4. They have already provided Rs204.35bn as reserve money for participating in the auction with their bids crossing over Rs920bn, higher than the government's expectation of Rs820bn.