June 26th 2024.
In a bold move, the Indian government recently held an auction for radiowaves that are used to transmit voice and data signals for mobile phones. The auction, which lasted for two days, concluded on Wednesday with a total of just 12% of the estimated value being met. The government had hoped to gather a whopping Rs 96,238 crore from the auction, but only received bids worth Rs 11,340 crore.
Sources close to the matter revealed that a total of 10 GHz of spectrum was up for grabs, ranging from 800 MHz to 26 GHz. The first day of bidding, June 25th, saw five rounds of intense competition. However, the following day was relatively quiet, prompting officials to call an end to the auction around 11:30 am.
According to sources, the total amount of bids received on Wednesday was similar to the previous day, with only a small portion of spectrum being sold, estimated at around 140-150 MHz. The bands on offer were 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1,800 MHz, 2,100 MHz, 2,300 MHz, 2,500 MHz, 3,300 MHz, and 26 GHz.
This auction was a far cry from the previous one in 2022, which lasted for a record-breaking seven days. During that auction, a staggering Rs 1.5 lakh crore worth of 5G telecom spectrum was sold. The top bidder was none other than billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Jio, which acquired nearly half of all the available airwaves. Other prominent players, such as Sunil Mittal's Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea, also made successful bids of Rs 43,084 crore and Rs 18,799 crore, respectively.
Despite not meeting the estimated value, the auction was still an important event for the telecom industry in India. It remains to be seen how the acquired spectrum will be put to use and how it will impact the market in the coming years. As for now, the government has made its decision, and the industry will have to adapt to the outcome.
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