New Delhi. The first day of auction of telecom spectrum used in mobile services received a lukewarm response on Tuesday and bids worth about Rs 11,000 crore were placed in five rounds of auction. The government is auctioning 10,500 MHz spectrum at a reserve price of Rs 96,238 crore. Telecom service provider companies are bidding in this auction.
A source familiar with the matter said, “Telecom companies have placed bids worth about Rs 11,000 crore in the spectrum auction on the first day. The sixth round of auction will be held on Wednesday.” Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea are participating in this auction. Through this, telecom companies are looking to acquire spectrum to offer high-speed 5G services.
Reliance Jio has deposited the highest advance amount of Rs 3,000 crore for the spectrum auction. On this basis, the company can bid for the maximum number of radio waves. Bharti Airtel has deposited Rs 1,050 crore and Vodafone Idea (VIL) has deposited Rs 300 crore as earnest money.
According to the report released by the Department of Telecommunications about the first day’s auction, bids were mainly placed in the 900 and 1,800 MHz spectrum bands. Apart from this, bids were also placed for the 2,100 MHz band in three circles.
Bharti Airtel’s spectrum term is expiring in six circles while Vodafone Idea’s spectrum term is expiring in two circles. Telecom expert Parag Kar estimates that in the first day’s auction, the 1,800 MHz band received bids worth Rs 6,304.4 crore, while bids worth Rs 4,465 crore were placed for 900 MHz and Rs 360 crore for 2,100 MHz.
No bid was made on the first day for the five other spectrum bands put up for auction. It is not yet known which company bid how much. The bids of telecom companies will be known only after the auction process is completed.
In this auction, 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1,800 MHz, 2,100 MHz, 2,300 MHz, 2,500 MHz, 3,300 MHz and 26 GHz spectrum bands have been offered.
However, there is not much enthusiasm in this auction. Market experts had already expressed apprehension that this time limited bids could be seen. They said that the companies would focus on spectrum renewal and selected radio waves. The last auction was held in 2022 in which 5G spectrum worth a record Rs 1.5 lakh crore was sold. In that auction, Reliance Jio alone had acquired almost half the spectrum.
This is the 10th auction since the spectrum sale process started online in 2010. The last spectrum auction was held in August 2022, in which radio waves were offered for 5G services for the first time. SP Kochar, Director General of COAI, an organization of telecom companies, said that the 5G auction will accelerate the rapid offer of 5G services across the country, which will improve coverage and connectivity. Members of the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) include Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea.