New Delhi: Government added another Rs232 crore to its cat from India’s first 5G Spectrum Auction on Friday, with the total proceeds coming to Rs 149,855 crore by the end of day four, driven entirely by the battle for the 1800 MHz in UP (East), which sees the action now moving into day five.
On the fourth day of the sale, there were seven more rounds of bidding. Day five starts from round 24, with what industry viewers expect the sale to continue on Monday.
Telcos had bid for ether worth Rs 149,623 crore by the end of day three. The previous record of government collection of spectrum auctions was Rs 1.09 lakh crore in 2015.
In this year’s auction, the government offered a shadow over 72 GHz of ether for 20 years over 10 5G bands worth Rs 4.3 lakh crore at minimum prices. So far, more than 40% of the spectrum for sale has been bid.
are on offer low band ether (600MHz, 700MHz800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz, 2500 MHz), mid band or C band (3.3-3.67 GHz) and high band (26 GHz).
The pricey but super efficient 700 MHz band saw bidding for the first time in this auction, with jio reportedly bought 10 MHz of airwaves across India and spent Rs 39,270 crore. The tire had gone unsold in the last two auctions due to the high price the carriers said. For this sale, the rate was reduced by 40%.