This is the second time the spectrum sale has been pushed back. It was originally scheduled on May 20, and was initially deferred to June 6, in the wake of the general elections.
Now, mock auctions will be conducted on June 13 and 14, the DoT said in its official notification amending the auction rules.
This time round, 5G airwaves in eight bands — the 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz, 2500 MHz, 3.3 GHz and 26 GHz bands — worth over Rs 96,000 crore at base prices, will be on sale.
Analysts expect the upcoming airwaves sale to be a low key affair with bidding likely to remain muted as Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea (Vi) have adequate 5G airwave holdings and since 5G penetration remains low in absence of any consumer-centric use cases for the masses.Airtel and Vi are likely to focus on specific bands in markets where they face spectrum renewals while some analysts say Jio could virtually sit this one out as it has no airwave renewals anytime soon.Industry experts, in fact, estimate that the government will likely collect a modest Rs 1,200 crore in the first year from the upcoming sale as it expects Airtel, Jio and Vi to collectively buy just around Rs 12,500 crore of 5G airwaves — or about 13% of the Rs 96,320 crore worth of spectrum on offer.
This was reflected in the modest earnest money deposits (EMDs) — in the Rs 300-3,000 crore range — submitted by India’s top telcos, which are the lowest since the 2014 sale, and almost 79-86% lower than the submissions in the previous 5G auction of 2022.
The EMDs are indicative of a telco’s bidding strategy and spectrum buying capacity.
