India’s Largest Spectrum Auction Begins; 5G airwaves worth Rs 4.3 lakh cr on offer

India’s largest-ever auction of spectrum carrying telephone and internet data signals began Tuesday with a total supply of 72 GHz (gigahertz) of 5G airwaves worth Rs 4.3 lakh crore.



Billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Trust JioSunil Mittal-led Bharti Airtel, Vodafone idea and a unit of billionaire Gautam Adani‘s flagship Adani Enterprises are in the running to bid on 5G spectrum, which offers ultra-fast speeds (about 10 times faster than 4G), lag-free connectivity, and allows billions of connected devices to share data in real time.

In addition to powering ultra-low latency connections, allowing downloading of full-length, high-quality video in a matter of seconds to a mobile device (even in crowded areas), fifth generation or 5G would enable solutions such as e-health, connected vehicles, more immersive augmented reality and metaverse experiences, life-saving use cases and advanced mobile cloud gaming.

The auction will be held for spectrum in various low (600 MHz, 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz), mid (3300 MHz) and high (26 GHz) frequency bands.

Bidding that started at 1000 hrs continues until 1800 hrs and carries over the next day, if there is demand for spectrum and bidders bid.

The number of days the auction ultimately lasts will depend on the actual demand for radio waves and the strategy of individual bidders, although the broad consensus in the industry is that it could take up to two days.

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