Mumbai, March 26 (IANS): A day after the spectrum auction ended, the scrips of major telecom companies traded with healthy gains during the afternoon session at the BSE on Thursday.

The scrip of telecom major Bharti Airtel, was up 0.87 percent at Rs.398.30 per equity share on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) from its previous close of Rs.394.85 per equity share around 12.35 p.m. Thursday.

Tata Communications' scrip at the BSE was up 0.34 percent at Rs.406.90 from the previous close of Rs.406.35 per equity share.

Idea Cellular's stocks at the BSE rose 1.79 percent at Rs.176.50 per equity share from its previous close of Rs.173.40.

However, scrip of Reliance Communications was down 0.08 percent at Rs.61.10 per equity share from its close of Rs.61.15 per equity share.

Stocks of Reliance Industries which participated in the auction through its upcoming subsidiary Reliance Jio, were down 0.46 percent at Rs.840.88 per equity share from its previous close of Rs.844.70.

The e-auction of radio frequency spectrum, or airwaves, for telecom operators had concluded Wednesday after 19 days and 115 rounds of rigorous bidding with officials placing the provisional estimate of commitments at Rs.109,874 crore -- the highest ever.

This amount can be considered as a windfall for the government as it has surpassed the previous high of Rs.106,200 crore that it had received in the 2010 auction, which was spread over 34 days with 183 rounds of bidding.

The eight companies that participated in the auction were: Reliance Communications, Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India, Tata Teleservices, Uninor, Idea Cellular and Aircel. The winners will have to pay around a third of the winning bid price within 10 days and the rest by 2027.

On offer were blocks for 69 service areas at a total reserve price of Rs.80,277 crore, and the provisional allocation was announced for 63 of them at a winning price of Rs.109,874.91 crore. In 50 service areas, the winning bids went at a premium.