India 2G spectrum auction flops

India's telecoms ministry called off its latest auction of mobile phone licences on the second day as the sale attracted bids of only $1.7 billion, against a hoped for $5.5 billion. Spectrum in the country's two most populous mobile telephony markets, New Delhi and Mumbai, received no bids at all. The government is likely to call for fresh bids with a much reduced lower reserve price. The auction had been ordered by India's Supreme Court which cancelled the original awards of the spectrum to nine companies saying the allocation process was flawed.