The central government in India is expected to raise about Rs3,639 crore from the auction of spectrum for CDMA services in the country.

Russian conglomerate Sistema's Indian unit SSTL was the only bidder for the spectrum at the auctions today. Government officials said that the government is nto expected to receive any cash payments because Rs 1,626 crore is to be adjusted for the earlier payments made by the company.

The auction, which went on for four hours, failed to invite any bids from Mumbai, Maharashtra and UP East circles. The 800 MHz band is used for CDMA services and it found no buyer during the auctions held in November of 2012. There is much lesser demand for CDMA airwaves in the country while operators are struggling to improve service due to the limit supply of spectrum in GSM services in the country.

The Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) on telecom, which is headed by finance minister P Chidambaram, had recommended that the base price of November auction for the 800 MHz spectrum used in CDMA services should be reduced by 30 per cent or 50 per cent for auctions this year.

The government reduced the spectrum base price by 50 per cent but still it was not able to attract telecom service providers in the country.