Billionaires Play Chicken Over Airwaves Auction: Corporate India
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India completed an auction for wireless airwaves today at which there was only one bidder, the Indian unit of Russia’s AFK Sistema.
The remaining 12 carriers in the world’s second-largest mobile-phone market including billionaire Sunil Mittal’s Bharti Airtel Ltd. and Anil Ambani’s Reliance Communications Ltd. skipped the sale as they face off in a “battle of chicken” with the government over the spectrum’s floor price, according to Harit Shah at Nirmal Bang Institutional Equities.