The government could manage to raise only Rs 65,789 crore from the spectrum auctions, just a fraction of the Rs 5.63 trillion (at base price) of spectrum put up for sale in the auction. Against a total of 2353 MHz spectrum put up for sale, the government managed to sell only around 965 MHz in this sale. The government had mopped up a record Rs 1.1 lakh crore in the last spectrum auctions, but failed to have a strong response this year.

No airwaves were sold in the 70" MHz and 900 MHz bands.

Bharti Airtel, emerging as the biggest buyers of 4G airwaves, followed by newcomer Reliance Jio Infocomm and Idea Cellular.

Vodafone spent over Rs 20,000 crore, Airtel Rs 14,244 crore, Jio Rs 13,672 crore and Idea Rs 12,798 crore to beef up 4G airwaves as the battlefield moves from voice to data for growth.

The government will get an upfront payment of Rs. 32,000 crore from the spectrum sale, the highest-ever in the last five years, Telecom Minister Manoj Sinha said.