New Delhi, March 1 (IANS): The first day of the much anticipated telecom auctions attracted Rs 77,146 crore of bids, said Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad.

Bidding took place for spectrum in 800 MHz, 900 Mhz, 1,800 MHz, 2,100 MHz and 2,300 MHz bands. However, the participants did not bid in 700 MHz abd 2,500 MHz bands.

Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea were the bidders in the latest auction against seven bidders in the previous auctions in 2016.

Reliance Jio had submitted an earnest money deposit (EMD) of Rs 10,000 crore for the auctions, the highest among the three private telecom operators. Bharti Airtel, on the other hand submitted an EMD of Rs 3,000 crore and Vodafone Idea submitted EMD of Rs 475 crore.

A statement said that bidder-wise details of quanity won and amount payable will be available only after conclusion of the auction.

A total of 2,308.80 MHz spectrum is being put to auction, our of which there have been bids for 849.20 MHz so far. According to the government, excluding spectrum in 700 MHz and 2,500 MHz bands, bids have been received for almost 60 per cent of the spectrum.

The auction is likely to conclude on Tuesday.

Four rounds of bidding took place till 6 p.m. on Monday, another two rounds are expected on Tuesday. The e-auction is based on the Simultaneous Multiple Round Ascending Auction (SMRA) methodology.

The ongoing auction does not include frequencies in 3,300-3,600 MHz bands that were identified for 5G services.

Spectrum which will assigned to the successful bidders is valid for 20 years.