The total proceeds from the third day of 5G spectrum auctions inched closer to the ₹1.5 trillion mark on Thursday, communications minister Vaishnaw said.
“Seven rounds were conducted on Day 3, taking the total to 16 rounds over three days. Bids worth ₹1,49,623 crore have been received," the minister told reporters yesterday. Thursday bids were slightly higher than bids that were received on Wednesday ( ₹1,49,454 crore), the second day of the auction.
At the end of 16 rounds on Wednesday, telecom operators bid aggressively for key 5G bands, but industry insiders said spectrum would not go beyond the base price in majority of circles since a good quantity of airwaves is available this time.
Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Jio, Sunil Bharti Mittal's Bharti Airtel, Vodafone-Idea and Gautam Adani are vying to buy the 5G airwaves. According to analysts, Reliance Jio may be the most aggressive of those in the race.
The bid proceeds indicated that the government would net at least ₹14,843 crore or $18.6 million up front according to estimates from Credit Suisse. With higher bids, proceeds to government will increase proportionately.
Bidding was seen in all circles of 3.3 Ghz and 700 Mhz bands, indicating cumulative purchases being made in the 5G bands which have pushed the overall demand for airwaves to beyond 5.4 Ghz units of the total 7.4 Ghz that the government has put on sale this time, as per a Morgan Stanley note.
Apart from this, bidding was also seen in the other sub-Ghz bands to meet incremental demand. Assam, J&K and North East circles in the 900 Mhz band and North East, Assam and J&K in the 800 Mhz bands saw additional bids. In the 2100 Mhz band, bidding was seen in Kerala, Karnataka, Haryana, Gujarat, Delhi, West Bengal and Bihar, as per the Day 3 report, while prices increased by 0.5% in four circles of Kerala, Haryana, West Bengal and Bihar, ICICI Securities said in a note. Punjab and Andhra Pradesh also saw bidding in the 2500 Mhz bands as well.
Demand in the 1800 Mhz band for the Uttar Pradesh East circle took bidding over the base price for the second consecutive day, with little signs of competition abating in the low band. It was the sole circle where bidding moved beyond the base price, as per data released by the department of telecommunications.
The Department of Telecom is targeting to allocate the spectrum by mid-August and 5G services are expected to start rolling out by September-October 2022. With this, ultra-high speeds (about 10 times faster than 4G), lag-free connectivity, and billions of connected devices to share data in real-time can be enabled.
The fifth generation will also enable solutions such as e-health, connected vehicles, more immersive augmented reality and metaverse experiences, life-saving use cases, and advanced mobile cloud gaming, among others. The industry is also committed to taking services to rural India.
