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3G spectrum price auction doubles from floor price
NEW DELHI: The value of 3G auction has touched Rs 75.99 billion, a rise of Rs 6.31 billion over the previous day, as it more than doubles the floor price fixed by the government at Rs 35 billion.
At the end of the twelfth day of auction, the price of spectrum in Delhi has shot to Rs 10.31 billion, up from the previous day’s Rs 8.50 billion.
Even the bid for Mumbai rose to Rs 9.89 billion from Thursday’s Rs 7.52 billion.
The rest of Maharashtra peaked at Rs 7.46 billion and Tamil Nadu at Rs 7.32 billion. Karnataka closed at Rs 6.71 billion, while Andhra Pradesh had a bid of Rs 6.52 billion, and Gujarat closed at Rs 6.13 billion. There are no applications of price increment for Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra for the next rounds.
Kerala and Kolkata clocked Rs 2.49 billion and Rs 2.34 billion respectively.
The bids for some states are expected to rise very little, with no applications for price increment for the next round. These include Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Assam, Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, and the North-East.
While east Uttar Pradesh closed with a bid of Rs 2.57 billion, west Uttar Pradesh clocked Rs 2.78 billion. Punjab stopped at Rs 1.4 billion and Haryana closed at Rs 2.16 bmillion. Madhya Pradesh and Bihar rose marginally to Rs 2.34 billion and Rs 337.4 million respectively. Rajasthan rose to Rs 2.45 billion. The north-east bid rose to Rs 306 million and that of Assam and Orissa to Rs 303 million.
The bids for some states remained unchanged: West Bengal at Rs 1.24 billion, and Jammu & Kashmir, and Himachal Pradesh service areas at Rs 300 million each.
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.
