Reliance Industries says it will pay $1 billion for a 95 percent stake in Infotel Broadband, the only company to win wireless broadband spectrum throughout India in a government auction Friday, according to AP. The announcement came hours after the government closed the 16-day bidding process, which yielded over $8 billion in spectrum fees. That and the $14.6 billion India raked in from third-generation cell phone spectrum auctions less than a month ago could help plug the nation's fiscal deficit. But spiraling costs and fierce competition have players worried. Two of India's largest operators _ Vodafone and Reliance Communications _ dropped their broadband bids as prices skyrocketed. Vodafone says prices «went beyond rational levels.»
