Indian stock markets today responded optimistically to telecommunication firms bagging precious airwaves for third generation (3G) phone services, with all their stocks trading on a positive note a day after the completion of auctions.

However, market analysts remained worried over the high debt these firms may have to bear to pay off the licence fee of Rs 67,718.95 crore to the administration within the specified period of 10 days.

During noon, the scrips of telecom biggies such as RCom, Bharti Airtel and Idea, which received a big chunk of the spectrum, were all trading in firmly.

The scrip of Bharti Airtel, which will have to pay around Rs 12,295.46 crore for 13 circles, stood at Rs 261.90, up 0.91%, while RCom, which will pay Rs 8,585.04 crore, surged 1.5% to trade at Rs 138.85. Idea's share remained up by 1.8% at Rs 53.70.

The scrip of MTNL, which had already been allotted 3G spectrum but has to match the auction price of Rs 6,564 crore for its two circles of Delhi and Mumbai, gained 1,6% at Rs 57.05.

But analysts said the optimism around these scrips will not last long as the high license charges will put pressure to the already squeezed margins of the operators.

Mahesh Uppal, a telecom industry expert and director of consulting firm Com First said, "The numbers are so huge, unrealistic that one would eventually expect a consolidation in the sector. After all $3-4 billion is not small change."

Sanjay Dutt of Quantum Securities, said, "I see Reliance emerge as the real winner in this whole game. It has managed to acquire 80 percent of the top circles for what -something like Rs 8,500 crore! It can now easily acquire access to the remaining circle."

He added that the truth that RCom was a major player on both the GSM and CDMA markets and it would also go a long way in deriving the best out of its available infrastructure.

The prized Delhi and the Mumbai circles were won by RCom, Bharti and Vodafone. In all, Reliance, Bharti and Aircel won the largest number of 13 circles, followed by 11 for Idea, nine each for Vodafone and Tata, and three for S Tel. (With Inputs from Agencies)