5G Spectrum Auction Enters Sixth Day of Bidding; Nearly 1.50 lakh crore has been collected till date

New Delhi, July 31: The auction of 5G spectrum, which can offer super-fast internet, entered its sixth day of trading on Sunday after bids worth Rs 1,49,966 crore were received in the first five days from players like Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel. Bidding resumed on Sunday morning with the 31st round, and the next round is ongoing, sources said.

The intense battle in the Uttar Pradesh-East circle – where demand for 1800 MHz has peaked since Wednesday – seems to be cooling down now, indicating that the auctions may be entering the final leg, according to industry sources. However, a lot will depend on how the day trades, they added.

As of Saturday, the total bid value in the telecom spectrum auction was nearing the Rs 1.50 lakh mark. “The 5G auction shows that the industry wants to expand. She is out of trouble and entering a growth phase. The results of the auction are very good, the industry has spent around Rs 1,49,966 crore to buy spectrum,” Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnav told a briefing in Mumbai after a roundtable of telecom investors on Saturday.

The minister noted that the auction and its “good response” underscore the maturity of the industry. Billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio, Sunil Mittal-led Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and billionaire Gautam Adani’s flagship Adani Enterprises unit are in the race for 5G spectrum, which offers about 10 times the speed of 4G, lag-free connectivity and could enable billions connected devices to exchange data in real time. 5G in India: “The government expects to roll out 5G in early October, which will be the fastest among many geographies,” says Communications Minister Ashwini Vaishnau.

In addition to providing ultra-low-latency connections that allow you to download a full-length video or high-quality movie to a mobile device in seconds (even in crowded places), the fifth generation or 5G will enable solutions such as e-health, connected vehicles, more immersive experiences augmented reality and meta-universe, life-saving use cases and advanced mobile cloud gaming, among others.

The reserve price fixed for the spectrum is a “fair number” and the same is evident from the auction results, the minister said. A gradual Rs 111-112 crore came in on Saturday, up from Rs 1,49,855 crore received till Friday from players like Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel.

Notably, demand in eastern Uttar Pradesh fell below supply after exceeding available supply for three consecutive days from Wednesday to Saturday. Earlier, demand stood at 75 blocks against a supply of 54 blocks, experts said, adding that by Saturday evening, demand stood at 50 blocks, four less than supply in the circle.

Seven new rounds were held on Saturday and trading moved to Sunday (a departure from the past when trading usually took place between Monday and Saturday). By Friday, about 71 percent of the total spectrum delivered on the block had been provisionally sold.

After a strong start on Tuesday, with players pouring in Rs 1.45 lakh on the first day, the numbers only gradually increased on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday as Jio and Airtel engaged in intense bidding in Uttar Pradesh’s eastern circle for the 1800 MHz band .

In total, 72 GHz (Gigahertz) of radio waves worth at least Rs 4.3 lakh per block. The auction is for spectrum in various low (600 MHz, 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz, 2500 MHz), medium (3300 MHz) and high (26 GHz) frequency bands.