Telecom Giants Jio, Airtel To Spend Over 50,000 Crores in 5G Race
News Synopsis
Telecom giants Reliance Jio Infocomm and Bharti Airtel, already in fray, for the 5G spectrum commencing on July 26 in India are all geared up for the biggest deal. The auction is expected to be worth Rs 55,000 to 60,000 crore and Rs 45,000 to 50,000 crore respectively, as per the Telecom industry experts.
The Adani Group, through unit Adani Data Networks and Cash Strapped Vi may then bid for spectrum in the amount of Rs 13,000-15,000 crore or Rs 5,000-6,000 million, respectively.
Experts predict a fierce three-way battle between India's largest Telecom company Jio, second-ranked Airtel new entrants Adani For 5G airwaves - especially in the highly-coveted but costly 3.3-3.67GHz band, also known by the C-band, or mid-band. The band's price could rise 10% above the base rate of Rs 317.5 crore per unit. Vi and the other companies are expected to also bid for 26 GHz spectrum, which is much more affordable but still very useful. An industry senior familiar with bidding strategies predicts that Jio will also increase spectrum in the 800, 1800, and 2300 MHz bands. This, together with the mainline 5G bands (read 3.3GHz and 26GHz), will allow Jio to achieve a mix of coverage and capacity.
Sunil Mittal's Airtel will also be making strategic spectrum top-ups on the 900/1800/2300MHz bands in order to increase network capacity. 5G rollouts will likely drive up data consumption and increase network capacity.
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