All the four private players – Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and Adani Data Network – actively participated in the process.
All the four private players – Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and Adani Data Network – actively participated in the process.
The government got a record bid of ₹ 1.45 lakh crore on the first day of the biggest ever auction on Tuesday. Auction for Telecom AirwavesExceeding the bids requirement of ₹80,000 crore- ₹90,000 crore from the entire auction.
The auction in which a total of 72,097.85 MHz (or 72 GHz) spectrum has been put on sale for around ₹4.3 lakh crore saw “active” participation from all four private players – Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and Adani Data. Network.
Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnav told reporters, “₹1.45 lakh crore is a very significant number as it shows that the industry is now moving towards positive territory.”
“Now the industry is converting into a sunrise industry. It will now focus on investment, focus on generating more jobs, provide better quality of service,” he said.
“It is a record revenue collection. The previous record was ₹1.09 lakh crore [in 2015 auctions], So, that’s a very encouraging response. So much response to 5G clearly shows that the industry has changed from its tough times which was caused by a lot of litigation and other things. ,
Four rounds of bidding between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. on Tuesday also saw “good” demand for spectrum in the coveted 700 MHz band, which went unsold in the previous two auctions in 2016 and 2021 due to higher prices. Was. Airwaves in the mid (3,300 MHz) and high (26 GHz) frequency bands, which are expected to be used by telecom service providers to roll out 5G services, also attracted strong bids.
Bidding will continue on Wednesday as well.
The minister said that the government will work on allotting spectrum in record time and has set a target of August 15 for this. He said 5G services are expected to start in the county by September or October.
He said that by the end of this year people will be able to experience 5G services in many cities of the country.