New Delhi: Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Wednesday that bids worth Rs 1.49 trillion have been received for buying 5G telecom spectrum on the second day of the auction.
Tycoons Mukesh Ambani, Sunil Bharti Mittal, and Gautam Adani’s companies, as well as Vodafone Idea, are bidding for fifth-generation airwaves in an online auction.
Reliance Jio, owned by Ambani, may be the most aggressive competitor, according to analysts.
Although the specifics of the bids have not yet been made public, ICICI Securities said its analysis indicates that Jio has most likely chosen to bid for the biggest amount of spectrum—roughly Rs 80,100 crore—and has chosen 10MHz of spectrum in the expensive 700MHz band.
Bharti Airtel may have submitted a proposal for spectrum in the 1800MHz and 2100MHz bands for Rs 45,000 crore, which is 20% higher than anticipated.
According to the report, Adani Data Networks should have chosen 26GHz spectrum across India whereas Vodafone Idea Ltd most likely offered Rs 18,400 crore for the spectrum.
“It appears Adani has bought 26GHz spectrum in 20 circles (except in Delhi and Kolkata), and its total spectrum purchase could be 3350MHz for Rs 900 crore.
“Our estimate is provisional data does not reflect the entire purchase by Adani. We believe it should have purchased 200MHz spectrum in all circles except Gujarat where it would have bought 400MHz,” ICICI Securities added.
Nomura said, at the current value of the overall bid, the government may receive Rs 13,000 crore in upfront payments during the current fiscal year and a comparable sum per year for the following 19 years.
In addition to the 1800MHz and 2100 MHz spectrum bands, bids on the first day mostly included the 3.3GHz, 26GHz, and 700MHz 5G spectrum bands. In the 900MHz and 2500MHz spectrum areas, there has also been some selective bidding.
