Day 1 attracted over Rs 1.45 lakh crores worth of bid from telecos.
700 MHz saw much greater interest from telecom operators
Telecom Ministry planning to allot 5G spectrum by August 14
The first day of India’s 5G spectrum auction saw Reliance Jio, Airtel and Adani spend over Rs 1.45 lakh crores in a bid to get 5G airwaves. As the spectrum auction enters the second day, the four operators will continue to bid on unsold spectrum bands on what’s likely the final day of the auction proceedings.
Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw commented on the auction saying that all bidders showed strong interest to obtain the necessary 5G radiowaves but it was the 700MHz band that attracted the most eyeballs. The minister also confirmed that the government will be allocating the 5G spectrum by August 14 with commercial 5G services expected to roll out by September or October.
The major bands that have attracted strong interest from the telecom operators include the 700 MHz, 3300 MHz and 26GHz bands. Government sources have indicated that almost 40% of the total 700 MHz bands have been sold until now with more spectrum bands up for bidding on Day 2.
The 700 MHz band attracted over Rs 39,270 crores worth of bids while the 26GHz high-frequency band received bids worth Rs 14,632 crores. Interestingly there were no bids for the 800 MHz and 2300 MHz but the second day of the spectrum auction is still underway and we’ll know more details when it ends. More information about which telecom operator has bought and how much of the airwaves will be revealed when the auction ends later today.
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