After seven days of ferocious bidding from leading industry heavyweights like Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, and Adani Enterprises, the 5G spectrum auction—the first of its kind in India—finally came to an end on Monday.
This auction is particularly significant since it would pave the way for Indian operators’ anticipated September introduction of 5G services. Here are nine issues to consider regarding the 5G Spectrum Auction as Electronics & Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw outlined the key lessons from the bidding rounds.
- The total bid amount received by the government was Rs. 1,50,173 crores.
- During the auction, Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, Vi (Vodafone Idea), and Adani Data Networks all submitted bids.
- With a total bid of Rs 88,078 crores, Jio took the lead. With Rs 43,084 crores, Airtel came in second. With Rs 18,799 crores, Vi (Vodafone Idea) came in third place. Adani Data Networks placed the final offer, for Rs 212 crores.
- In the 26 GHz, 3,300 MHz, 1,800 MHz, 800 MHz, and 700 MHz frequency bands, Jio was awarded a 24,470 MHz quantum of spectrum.
- Airtel was awarded a 19,867MHz spectrum quantum in the 26GHz, 3,300MHz, 2,100MHz, 1,800MHz, and 900MHz bands
- Vi was awarded a 6,228MHz spectrum quantum that included 26GHz, 3,300MHz, 2,500MHz, 2,100MHz, and 1,800MHz.
- Adani Data Networks was awarded a 400MHz spectrum quantum, but exclusively in the 26GHz range.
- The amount bid during the 4G spectrum auction last year was doubled for the 5G Auction (Rs 77,815 crores). Additionally, the 5G sum is three times what was offered in the 2010 3G auction (Rs 50,968.37 crores).
- On the first day of the auction, July 26, around Rs. 1.45 lakh crore of the total bid amount had already been offered.
