New Delhi: Government has received pledged bids for 5G spectrum worth Rs149623 crore after 16 rounds of bidding on the third day Thursday, a government official said. Bidding starts on Friday from the 17th round.
“Industry is committed to providing services to rural areas,” the official said, adding that demand was in all bands and in different regions.
Until Day 2, the government had received bids for Rs 1,49,454 crores worth of spectrum.
Market leader Trust JioEstimated spending after day 2 of India’s ongoing 5G spectrum sale is estimated to have risen to around Rs 84,300 crore as it likely bought 130 units of mid-band (3.3-3.67 GHz) ether in addition to the expensive 700 MHz spectrum , high-band (26 GHz) and those in the 1800 MHz band, analysts said.
Bharti Airtel and Vodafone ideaThe estimated spectrum spend after day 2 is estimated to be about Rs 46,100 crore and Rs 18,400 crore respectively as they also added more mid-band, high-band and ether in the 1800 MHz and 2100 MHz bands. However, both have skipped the expensive 700 MHz band. New participant Adani data networks will likely have focused on pan-Indian 5G airwaves in the high band alone, limiting spectrum spending for its own needs to around Rs 800-900 crore.
Prices for some bands went up on day two. A report from Credit Suisse revealed that the price of the 1800 MHz band has jumped 20% to Rs 9,700 crore from day one, while that of the 2100 MHz band has risen 19% to Rs 3,200 crore. The price of the 3300-3600 MHz band rose 3% to Rs80,600 crore while that of the 26 GHz band rose 1% to Rs14,700 crore.
“After Day 2, RJio’s payout is likely to have risen to Rs 84,300 crore, while Bharti and Vi’s potential spectrum payout is estimated to have risen to Rs 46,100 crore and Rs 18,400 crore,” ICICI Effects said in a note. It added that Jio has likely bid on 130MHz (vs 100MHz on day 1) of 5G mid-band airwaves.
The government had raised another Rs 4,000 on the second day of the month 5G Spectrum Auctionswith the total proceeds from the sale coming to Rs 1.49 lakh crore.
“Assuming telcos will make full use of the deferred payment option (i.e. 20 years), the government will likely receive ~$1.8 billion in FY23 prepayment from the 5G auctions (NPV protected with an interest rate of 7. 2%)” Credit Suisse said in the note.