Shares of telecom companies Idea Cellular and Bharti Airtel today edged higher in an otherwise subdued market after the completion of spectrum auction.

The Government raised a record Rs 109,874 crore in the country’s biggest and the fiercest auction of telecom spectrum that ended yesterday. Concerns are rife that this would lead to hike in call and data rates.

According to market experts, existing telecom players like Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular and Reliance Communications have managed to get their share of spectrum as the licence for the spectrum that these companies were holding were set to expire.

Reacting to the development, shares of Idea Cellular ended up 4.04 per cent at Rs 180.40 on the BSE. Bharti Airtel also settled in the green territory with gains of 0.98 per cent at Rs 398.70.

The spike in these stocks assumes significance as the BSE Sensex ended down 654.25 points, or 2.33 per cent.

Shares of Reliance Communications and Tata Teleservices, however, settled in the negative zone with losses of 1.23 per cent and 0.26 per cent respectively.

comment COMMENT NOW