The auction of the 5G spectrum capable of offering ultra-high-speed internet garnered bids totalling about Rs 1.5 lakh crore on the fifth day of sale on Saturday and the process is likely to continue for the coming few days, telecom minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Saturday.
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Reliance Industries' Jio, rivals Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea, and billionaire Gautam Adani's Adani Enterprises Ltd were all among the bidders for 5G airwaves.
Mr Vaishnaw said he expects the rollout of 5G - which government says can provide data speeds about 10 times faster than 4G - by October this year.
India had drawn bids worth about Rs 1,49,966 crore on Saturday's fifth day of sale, and the bidding is expected to continue today.
"The 5G auction shows that the industry wants to expand; it has come out of problems and is getting into a growth phase. The auction results are very good; close to Rs 1,49,966 crore has been committed by the industry for buying the spectrum," Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said at a briefing in Mumbai after a telecom investors' roundtable. The minister said that the auction and its "good response" underlines the industry's maturity.
Besides powering ultra-low latency connections, which allow downloading full-length high-quality video or movie to a mobile device in a matter of seconds (even in crowded areas), the 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, among others.
The minister said that the reserve price fixed for the spectrum is a "fair number", and the same is visible from the auction outcome. Incrementally, Rs 111-112 crore came in on Saturday, the provisional proceeds rising from the Rs 1,49,855 crore received till Friday from players like Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel.
Earlier, the demand was for 75 blocks against the supply of 54 blocks, experts said, adding in the just-concluded round, the demand was for 50 blocks, four less than the supply in the circle.
Seven fresh rounds were conducted on Saturday, and the bidding will resume on Sunday (a departure from the usual practice) with the 31st round. Until Friday, about 71 per cent of the total spectrum put on the block had been provisionally sold.
After a flying start on Tuesday that saw players pouring in Rs 1.45 lakh crore on the first day, the numbers moved up only incrementally over Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday as Jio and Airtel engaged in intense bidding in Uttar Pradesh East circle for 1800 MHz band in the last couple of days.
In all, 72 GHz (gigahertz) of radiowaves worth at least Rs 4.3 lakh crore is on the block. The auction is being held for spectrum in various low (600 MHz, 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz, 2500 MHz), mid (3300 MHz) and high (26 GHz) frequency bands.
