India approves auction of telecom spectrum at reserve price of $11.6bn

Telecommunication towers are pictured through hanging flower pots at a residential building in Kolkata December 11, 2012. REUTERS

India on Thursday approved the auction of telecom spectrum at a total reserve price of 963.2 billion rupees ($11.61 billion), the information minister told reporters.

A total 10 GHz of radiowaves is up for sale in this year's auction, according to a government statement, much lower than the previous year as telecom firms have acquired enough to meet most of their bandwidth requirements in the previous auction.