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BWA auction: Prices surge to Rs 128 billion
NEW DELHI: The Pan-India total at the Bandwidth Access (BWA) auction today rose to about Rs 127.75 billion, even as the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India expressed concern that broadband penetration in India was just 0.74 per cent confined to the main cities though 70 per cent of Indian population lives in rural areas.
After 116 rounds on the 15th day, the bids for Mumbai and Delhi remained at the top with Rs 22.73 million and Rs 22.21 billion respectively.
Tamil Nadu closed at Rs 20.49 billion, while Karnataka was at Rs 15.43 billion, Andhra Pradesh at Rs 10.59 billion, and Gujarat at Rs 6.08 billion.
While Kerala was at Rs 2.59 million, West Uttar Pradesh was at Rs 1.78 billion, East Uttar Pradesh at Rs 1.41 billion, Madhya Pradesh at Rs 1.23 billion, and at Rs 1.19 billion.
Rajasthan closed at Rs 963.6 million, West Bengal clocked Rs 709.7 million, Assam Rs 327 million, the North-East and Jammu and Kashmir Rs 210.6 million each, and Himachal Pradesh Rs 206.6 million.
The bids for five service centres remained unchanged: the rest of Maharashtra at Rs 9.16 billion; Kolkata at Rs 5.23 billion; Punjab at Rs 3.32 billion; Bihar at Rs 983 million, and Orissa at Rs 630 million.
The rest of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Kolkata, Punjab, West Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa are unlikely to see any increase with no applications for price increment for tomorrow’s rounds.
Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, and North-East are expected to see minimal increase with bids of just over Rs two million each.
The telecom operators in the race are Aircel, Augere (Mauritius) Limited, Bharti Airtel, Infotel Broadband Services Private Limited, Qualcomm Incorporated, Reliance WiMax Limited, Spice Internet Service, Provider Private Limited, Tata Communications Internet Services Limited, Tikona Digital Networks Private Limited and Vodafone Essar Limited.
The successful bidders would be allowed to start commercial 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.
