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3G auction: Bids stop for some service circles
NEW DELHI: The bidding for 3G spectrum in at least half of the 22 circles appeared to be coming to a close with no more bids beyond yesterday.
There is little likelihood for any more bids for Western Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Assam, Orissa, Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, the north-east, and Bihar.
On the ninth day of auction, bids for a nationwide 3G mobile spectrum licences in India rose 81.5 per cent above the base price to Rs 63.54 billion.
Delhi continued its upward rise at the end of 52 rounds on the ninth day today with a bid of Rs 7.33 billion. Mumbai had a bid of Rs 6.68 billion, while Tamil Nadu peaked at Rs 6.43 billion, and the rest of Maharashtra had a bid of Rs 5.25 billion.
The bid for Gujarat closed at Rs 5.60 billion, only marginally above yesterday’s bid.
The bid for Andhra Pradesh halted at Rs 5.56 billion, lower than Karnataka’s closing bid of Rs 5.72 billion.
Kolkata received a bid of Rs 1.89 billion, only marginally above Monday’s bid. Kerala had a bid of Rs 2.25 billion.
While east Uttar Pradesh closed with a bid of Rs 2.40 billion, west Uttar Pradesh clocked Rs 2.51 billion. Punjab stopped at Rs 1.36 billion and Haryana closed at Rs 2.03 billion.
The bids for some states remained unchanged: West Bengal at Rs 1.24 billion, Madhya Pradesh at Rs 2.23 billion, Rajasthan at Rs 2.20 billion; Assam, Orissa and Jammu & Kashmir service areas and Himachal Pradesh at Rs 300 million each, the north-east at Rs 303 million, and Bihar at Rs 327.6 million.
The telecom operators in the race are Aircel, Bharti Airtel, Etisalat DB Telecom, Idea Cellular, Reliance, S Tel, Tata Teleservices, Videocon Telecommunications and Vodafone Essar.
The successful bidders would be allowed to start commercial 3G operations from 1 September.
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Inshorts Group chief Deepit Purkayastha joins IAB video council for Southeast Asia and India
The co-founder and chief executive of the short-form content platform has been inducted into the IAB SEA+India Video Council, giving India a stronger voice in shaping digital video frameworks
NOIDA: India has long been the world’s most chaotic, multilingual and mobile-first digital market. Now, one of its most prominent short-video executives is getting a seat at the table where the rules are written.
Deepit Purkayastha, co-founder and chief executive of Inshorts Group, has been selected as a member of the IAB SEA+India Video Council for 2026. Run by the Interactive Advertising Bureau, the council brings together senior leaders from Southeast Asia and India to shape standards, best practices and measurement frameworks for the fast-evolving video and digital advertising ecosystem.
The timing is pointed. According to the IAMAI-Kantar Internet in India Report 2025, over 588 million Indians are now consuming short-video content, with growth increasingly driven by rural and non-metro audiences. India’s active internet user base has crossed 950 million, with 57 per cent of users now coming from rural markets. Yet the frameworks that govern how video consumption is measured and monetised were largely designed for single-language, Western markets and have struggled to keep pace with the scale, diversity and complexity of India’s digital landscape.
Purkayastha is no stranger to these debates. He already serves on the AI Council at Marketing and Media Alliance India and as co-chair of the Digital Entertainment Committee at the Internet and Mobile Association of India. His induction into the IAB SEA+India Video Council extends that influence into the global video standards arena.
Inshorts Group sits squarely at the intersection of these forces. Its flagship product, Inshorts, India’s highest-rated short news app, reaches 12 million active users with 60-word news summaries. Its sister platform, Public App, reaches 80 million monthly active users across more than 700 districts and 12 languages, serving communities that most global platforms barely register.
Purkayastha said the opportunity was about building something more representative. “India today sits at the centre of the global video ecosystem, but the frameworks that define how value is created and measured have not always kept pace with the realities of our market,” he said. “Being part of the IAB SEA+India Video Council is an opportunity to contribute to a more representative and future-ready approach, one that accounts for diversity in language, context, and user intent.”
As a council member, Purkayastha will contribute to shaping regional standards across video advertising, measurement and platform governance, with a focus on frameworks that are native to India’s multilingual, mobile-first ecosystem rather than imported from global benchmarks designed elsewhere.
For years, India has been content to play by rules written for other markets. Purkayastha’s induction is a signal that it is done waiting to be consulted and ready to start writing them.
