At the end of the eighth day of the telecom spectrum auction on Thursday, overall bids crossed the Rs 1-lakh-crore mark. Six rounds of bidding were completed during the day, taking the total rounds since the auction began on March 4 to 49.

The bidding took place in all bands and will resume on Friday morning.

Airtel, Vodafone, Idea Cellular, Reliance Communications, Aircel, Reliance Jio Infocomm, Uninor and Tata Teleservices are in the fray to acquire spectrum in the bands of 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1,800 MHz and 2,100 MHz.

“At the end of the 49th round, over 86 per cent of the spectrum has been provisionally allocated to bidders at a value of approximately Rs. 1,02,000 crore,” the Department of Telecommunications said in a release.

The department said spectrum was going at a premium over the reserve price in a majority of service areas, and competitive bidding was expected to continue.

On Thursday, excess bidding was seen in the circles of Madhya Pradesh and the Northeast in the 800-MHz band and in Haryana and Kolkata in the 1,800-MHz band.

“Brisk bidding was seen on the eighth day of bidding, with activity requirement set at 100 per cent. There is aggressive bidding going on in all bands,” the department said.

The government’s initial estimate of Rs. 82,000 crore from the sale of 2G and 3G airwaves was exceeded on the fourth day of the auction.

The auction is the biggest ever of 2G and 3G airwaves. A total of 380.75 MHz of spectrum is on offer in the premium 900-MHz and 1,800-MHz and 800-MHz bands, while 5 MHz is up for bidding in the 2,100-MHz band across 17 of 22 telecom circles in the country.

Airtel, Vodafone, Idea Cellular and Reliance Communications hold most of the spectrum put up for auction. Their licences expire in 2015-16.

The government will not release the results of the auction as a case is pending before the Supreme Court. The next hearing of the case is on March 26.