India first started selling telecom spectrum through the open bid mechanism in 2010. In that year, 3G services spectrum was sold for about 50,968 crores.
Last year, 4G spectrum was auctioned.
5G is the fastest possible network speed at the moment. Do read Shreya Agarwal’s explainer on what is 5G.
About the Current Auction
The auction lasted 7 days – from July 26 to August 1.
Reliance Jio emerged as the highest bidder, contributing to more than half the total collection.
The government made 1,50,173 crores from this spectrum sale.
51,236 MHz of spectrum was sold to 4 bidders. The total spectrum available for bidding was 72,098 MHz across 10 frequency bands. 20,862 MHz remained unsold.
Frequencies 3300 Mhz and 26 GHz will be used to provide 5G services. These received the highest interest. 600 MHz and 2300 MHz, on the other hand, received no bids at all.
The money will be paid to the government in annual payments for the next 20 years. The spectrum can be used by the operators for the same 20 years.
80,590 crores was realised from the 3300 – 3630 MHz spectrum. The other 5G spectrum, 26 GHz, earned 14,709 crores. The next highest earner was 700 MHz band, which earned 39,270 crores.
The rest of the bands improve 4G connectivity.
Which telecom company got what
Adani was a new entrant.
The details of the bidders are:
So, when do we expect 5G services in India?
The government has indicated that 5G services should be in India by October 2022.