NEW DELHI: The 5G spectrum auction stretched to the fourth day (Friday) as the event witnessed fierce competition for bands between cash-rich Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel. The government has received bids worth Rs 1,49,623 crore after sixteen rounds as the auction ended on the third day. On Thursday, seven rounds were conducted and the seventeenth round will begin on Friday.
Telecom minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Thursday said 16 rounds of bidding have been completed in three days and the auction will continue on Friday. “Bids worth `1,49,623 crore have been received at the end of the third day,” he said.
The government has put on sale 72 gigahertz of airwaves for a 20-year tenure in various frequency bands ranging from 26 gigahertz to 600 megahertz. According to the 5G auction modalities, airwaves across Low (600 MHz, 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz), Mid (3300 MHz) and High (26 GHz) frequency bands have been put up for bidding.
The government has permitted telecom operators to pay in 20 equal instalments to ensure a successful auction. Experts believe the mid and high-band spectrums will be utilised by telecom service providers to rollout 5G services. India’s largest telecom operator Reliance Jio has made a Rs 14,000 crore earnest money deposit (EMD), Bharti Airtel has put in Rs 5,500 crore and debt-laden Vodafone Idea has made Rs 2,200 crore. Interestingly, cash-rich Gautam Adani-led Adani Data Network put in Rs 100 crore EMD. EMD indicates the maximum quantity of airwaves a company can bid for in the auction, usually, companies can bid 8-10x of the EMD amount.
From a consumer point of view, 5G technology will be 10 times faster than 4G and 30 times faster than 3G, and also it will allow a greater number of devices to be connected to a faster mobile network in a smaller area without any loss of speed. Meanwhile, India has decided to keep away Chinese telecom gear makers from India’s 5G market. In addition to powering ultra-low latency connections, 5G would enable solutions such as e-health, connected vehicles, more-immersive augmented reality and metaverse experiences, life-saving use cases, and advanced mobile cloud gaming.
17th round of bidding
Telecom minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Thursday said sixteen rounds of bidding have been completed in three days and the 17th round of auction will be conducted on Friday. The government has put on sale
72 gigahertz of airwaves for a 20-year tenure in various frequency bands ranging from 26 gigahertz to 600 megahertz