On the second day of the country’s largest-ever spectrum auction, bids for 5G airwaves totaled over 1.49 lakh crore at the end of the ninth round.
The following is a point-by-point summary of the plot:
- Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw announced on Wednesday that the ninth round of bidding had finished with offers totaling Rs. 1,49,454 crore.
- Vaishnaw said that there was “strong competition for all bands.” He also said that, as of the end of the 9th round, “bids totaling 1,49,454 crore” had been received.
- A third day has been added to the 5G spectrum auction, according to the country’s communications minister. It was also said that demand is increasing across the board for all bands of the spectrum.
- The auction’s second day began at 10 a.m. and finished at 6 p.m. with nine rounds of bidding, bringing in new-age services and business models and enabling ultra-high speeds roughly ten times quicker than 4G.
- On the first day of bidding on Tuesday, the government received bids totaling 1.45 lakh crore.
- Sixty-six offers totaling 1.45 lakh crore were made on the first day of bidding by companies headed by tycoons like Mukesh Ambani, Sunil Bharti Mittal, and Gautam Adani, as well as Vodafone Idea.
- According to analysts, Ambani’s Reliance Jio may be the most aggressive competitor.
- It is yet to be revealed how much each bidder is willing to pay. According to an analysis by ICICI Securities, Jio is believed to have bid for the most expensive spectrum, valued at 80,100 crore, and selected 10 MHz of spectrum in the high-end 700 MHz band.
- ICICI Securities said in a statement: “For a total of 900 crore, Adani looks to have purchased 3350MHz of spectrum in 20 circles (excluding Delhi and Kolkata). Adani’s purchase has not yet been fully reflected in the statistics, therefore our estimate is only tentative. In all areas except Gujarat, we feel it should have obtained 400 MHz spectrum instead of the 200 MHz it did.
- It is possible that Bharti Airtel has bid for spectrum worth Rs 45,000 crore, which is 20% higher than planned, probably in the 1800 MHz and 2100 MHz bands.
- Debt-laden According to the report, Vodafone Idea may have bid a total of Rs 18,400 crore for spectrum, while Adani Data Networks should have chosen 26 GHz spectrum across the country.