All private bidders have shown great support to the government in the 2022 5G spectrum auction. The telcos have shown their support by giving the government almost Rs 1.5 lakh crore in five days of bidding. The spectrum auction has been moved to Day 6, which will be today. What’s great to see here is that the bidders have invested money in the 5G spectrum and the spectrum needed for 4G services. This means that the telcos not only want to be the first to launch 5G, but also want to expand their 4G services.
Because not every consumer will jump over 5G once it is available, it will be important for the telcos to invest more in the 4G spectrum and network infrastructure. If the telecom operators didn’t have a plan to recoup their investment, they wouldn’t have spent so much money on the spectrum auctions. The 2022 5G spectrum auctions also saw a new bidder, Adani Data Networks, owned by the Adani Group. But Aani Group’s bids were quite small and understandable.
Telcos bullish on sector is a good sign
If the telcos are bullish on the industry, that means there is some revenue potential here. How the telcos will monetize 5G is something only time will tell. But 4G is already monetized in a very heavy way in India and the private telcos have 4G network PAN-India. Ashwini Vaishnaw, India’s telecom minister, also thanked the whole telecom industry for its stellar response to the 2022 spectrum auction.
Vaishnaw had also said that there is room for a new telecom operator. But whether this will happen or not for sure will only be known in the future. For now, let’s see how much the telcos will bid during the sixth day of the spectrum auction.
