All the three private telecom operators –Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea - will slug it out to get a piece of 5G spectrum worth Rs 96,317.65 crore to be offered in the next auction, which will start on June 6.
The telecom department has received three applications for the auction - from India’s three private telcos - by the deadline for applying, officials told ET. No new company has applied this time. In the last auction held in 2022, an Adani group unit was the surprise bidder.The auction was earlier scheduled to start on May 20, but the date was extended in the wake of general elections.
Airwaves in the 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz, 2500 MHz, 3300 MHz and 26 GHz bands will be put on sale.
Industry experts and analysts expect the upcoming spectrum sale to be a muted affair as India’s top telcos have adequate 5G airwaves for their current needs. The auction is likely to only see some selective buying by Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea (Vi), who have to renew their airwaves in a few circles.Sunil Mittal-led Airtel needs to renew its airwaves in J&K, Odisha, Bihar, UP (East), West Bengal and Assam. Vodafone Idea needs to renew its spectrum in West Bengal and UP West circles.
As per Jefferies’ recent estimates, Airtel and Vi merely need to renew airwaves worth around Rs 4,200 crore and Rs 1,950 crore, respectively, while market leader Reliance Jio does not have any spectrum renewals coming up this year.
In the last spectrum sale in July 2022, which was India’s maiden 5G auction, the government had mopped up over Rs 1.5 lakh crore. It had offered over 72 GHz of airwaves for 20 years across 10 5G bands, worth Rs 4.3 lakh crore at reserve prices.
The spectrum will be assigned for 20 years and successful bidders will be allowed to make payments in 20 equal annual instalments.
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has provided an option to surrender the spectrum acquired through the upcoming auction after a minimum period of 10 years.
Spectrum bidders are not required to submit any financial bank guarantees (FBG) and performance bank guarantees (PBG).
Airwaves bought in the auction won’t attract any spectrum usage charges (SUC) in keeping with the telecom reforms initiated in September 2021.
The DoT will publish ownership details of the applicants on May 10.
The last date for withdrawal of applications is May 17, and the final list of bidder is scheduled to be declared on May 20.
The successful bidders have to deposit the amount to DoT within 10 calendar days from the issuance of demand notice by DoT. The department, on its part, will issue a frequency assignment letter specifying the frequencies to the successful bidder within 30 calendar days from the date of receipt of payment.
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