The government had earned Rs 150, 173 crore (Rs 1.5 trillion) when the auction for telecom spectrum ended Monday afternoon after seven days of bidding and 40 rounds, adding Rs 43 crore to its kitty on the last day.

The amount earned is far higher that what the government had anticipated and the most compared to the seven auctions since 2010, with Rs 113, 932 crore in 2015 being the previous best. The spectrum range on sale was also a record high, with the government seeking to sell 72 GHz at a base price of Rs 4.3 trillion.

According to sources, Reliance Jio bid the most amount at more than Rs 80,000 crore. It was followed by Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea, and the Adani Group, which had said before it is not entering consumer mobility.

The auction went on for many more days and rounds than planned, belying expectation among telecom companies that as most of the spectrum would be sold at the base price and would be over in two days.

No one anticipated a bitter battle between the three telecom companies for the 10.8 MHz of spectrum in the 1800 band in eastern Uttar Pradesh circle. The battle resulted in price soaring over the base price.

Government sources said they had estimated earning between Rs 70,000 crore and Rs 110,000 crore, but guess did better because reportedly Reliance Jio decided to buy 10 MHz of spectrum in the 700 band. The company, said analysts, would have forked out Rs 39,270 crore for the band as a result of which the overall numbers hit a much higher mark.

Companies had kept away from buying the 700 Mhz spectrum in the earlier two auctions because they believed it was very expensive. The spectrum is increasingly becoming popular globally as the key spectrum required for 5G coverage, especially indoors and for more efficiency.