Day 6 of the ongoing 5G spectrum auction on Sunday saw an incremental increase in the bidding figure after 37 rounds, with the government now receiving bids worth Rs 1,50,130 crore to date.
Led by Reliance Jio with over Rs 80,100 crore and Bharati Airtel with around Rs 50,000 crore worth bids, the 5G spectrum auction will continue on Monday.
While Vodafone Idea has placed bids for about Rs 15,000 crore, a unit of Adani Enterprises has placed bids around Rs 5,000 crore.
Jio and Airtel are currently engaged in intense bidding in Uttar Pradesh East circle for the 1800MHz band.
Earlier, addressing the ‘Telecom Investors Roundtable’ in Mumbai, Vaishnaw had said that there is no upfront payment and the winning telecom companies can pay the money over a period of 20 years.
In all, 72 GHz (gigahertz) of radiowaves worth at least Rs 4.3 lakh crore on the block.
More than 71 per cent of the total 5G spectrum put on the block has been provisionally sold.
IT Minister Vaishnaw expects 5G rollout by October this year.
In 2015, the telecom spectrum auction fetched Rs 1.10 lakh crore for the government.
5G, which can provide data speeds about 10 times faster than 4G, would enable better e-health, connected vehicles, AR/metaverse and mobile gaming/streaming.
The ongoing 5G spectrum auction indicates that the country’s telecom industry has come a long way in 5G advancements, said Vaishnaw.
The industry has emerged to become a sunrise industry in India and a benchmark for the world, the minister added.
