Telecom stocks in focus; gain up to 4 per cent

Mumbai: Telecom stocks on January 1 rose up to 4 per cent after sector regulator TRAI recommended a base price of Rs 2,720 crore per megahertz for sale of pan-India 3G mobile spectrum in February, about 19 per cent lower than what operators paid in 2010.

Shares of Bharti Airtel rose by 2.86 per cent to settle at Rs 362.95 on the BSE. Bharti Airtel was the top performer among the 30-Sensex blue-chips. Idea Cellular gained 3.58 per cent to Rs 159.30 and Reliance Communications jumped 3.93 per cent to Rs 83.25. The 3G spectrum in 2010 had attracted bids worth Rs 16,750.58 crore for a block of 5 Mhz frequencies on pan-India basis which amounts to about Rs 3,350 crore per MHz.

The recommended base price is about four times higher on per megahertz basis when compared to reserve price of Rs 3,500 crore for 5 Mhz fixed by the government for last 3G auction. Meanwhile in listless trade, the BSE benchmark Sensex ended at 27,507.54, up 8.12 points.