Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea (Vi), the three private telecommunications operators in India, are not expected to bid heavily at the upcoming 5G Spectrum Auction on 26 July 2022. Industry sources told Reuters that Indian private telecommunications companies are worried about losing 40% of the potential revenue because the enterprises could get spectrum directly from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) for captured private networks.
The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), the representative body of the Indian private telco, tried to stop the government from doing so but things did not work out. Now telco are afraid to invest heavily in the spectrum auction because they fear a loss of revenue. However, businesses will be happy with the outcome.
SP Kochhar, Director General, COAI, said the telecommunications companies hope that the company’s demand for 5G services will help them get a return on billions of dollars that they will invest in rolling out next generation network services.
Business Affairs for the Telco’s Eclipse Around 5G if Enterprises Can Get Spectrum Directly
It is noteworthy that businesses in many parts of the world are allowed to get the spectrum directly from the government for captured private networks. In India, however, the telcos mostly relied on the enterprise services that private 5G networks involved to earn their revenue from the 5G deployment.
The spectrum auction is almost a month away. According to ICICI Securities, Jio and Airtel are expected to bid for spectrum worth Rs 38,000 crore each during the upcoming auction. Vodafone Idea (Vi) does not have the kind of cash resources that Jio and Airtel have and can therefore participate in a very minimal way. The telecommunications companies are certainly not happy with the government’s decision to give spectrum directly to the businesses. However, Broadband India Forum (BIF) supported the government decision saying that telcos will still have a major role to play and earn revenue from the businesses.
