Communications minister Ashwini Vaishnaw says that the auction was active and all four companies made strong bidding. This auction broke all the records and exceeded all expectations that were set during the year 2015.
5G spectrum auction
Vaishnaw confirms that there were four rounds of bidding on day one for the mid and high bands, 3300MHz and 26GHz respectively. Interestingly, the low band, 700MHz, saw heavy bidding during the auction, where 40% of the low band was sold. He also said that 5G services are expected to roll out by September 2022. Various frequency bands were offered at the auction. These were:
Low band: 600 MHz, 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz¸2100 MHz, 2300 MHz, and 2500 MHzMid band (C-band): 3.3 GHz to 3.67 GHzHigh-band: 26 GHz
The earnest money deposit (EMD) of all four companies in the 5G auction is Rs 21,400 crore. Reliance Jio submitted Rs 14,000 crore, while Bharti Airtel gave Rs 5,500 crore. Vodafone Idea put in Rs 2,200 crore, and Adani Data Networks deployed Rs 100 crore. The auction’s rules prohibit any early announcement of the specifics of the 5G spectrum bid – and which spectrum was won by which company will only get disclosed after the entire process is complete. The earnest money deposit (EMD) of all four telecom giants for the 5G auction is RS 21,400 crore. Where Reliance Jio submitted RS 14,00 crore, Bharti Airtel submitted RS 5,500 crore, Vodafone Idea gave RS 2,200 crore, and Adani Data Networks put in RS 100 crore. As per the rules set up for auction, no announcement would be made before the entire process gets completed.
