Indian government confirmed only 40% of the available frequencies were sold during spectrum auction
The government of India has raised more than 657.9 billion rupees ($9.8 billion) in the recent mobile spectrum auction, local press reported.
The local authorities previously said they were expecting to obtain $83 billion through the process.
After five days of bidding, only 40% of the available airwaves were sold. Mobile operators did not bid for spectrum in the 700 MHz and 900 MHz bands.
Mobile operator Vodafone spent 202.8 billion rupees for 2 x 82.6 megahertz of feature-driven development and 200 megahertz of test-driven development spectrum across the 1800 MHz, 2.1 GHz and 2.5 GHz bands. The telco now has 4G capability in 17 of India’s 22 circles. “The new spectrum significantly enhances the coverage, capacity and speed of Vodafone India’s 4G data services in its key circles, complementing existing high-quality 2G and 3G voice and data capabilities,” Vodafone India said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Reliance Jio Infocomm paid a total of 136.72 billion rupees for 269.2 megahertz of spectrum in the 800 MHz, 1800 MHz and 2.3 GHz bands. The operator acquired airwaves across India’s 22 telecom circles. Reliance Jio said that it now has a total of 1,108 megahertz across India.
India’s largest operator Bharti Airtel paid 142.44 billion rupees for an additional 173.8 megahertz of spectrum in the 1800 MHz, 2.1 GHz and 2.3 GHz bands. The operator now has 4G spectrum in all circles across the country. “Airtel has further strengthened its Pan-India spectrum portfolio and secured its spectrum requirements for the next 20 years. The company now has 4G and 3G spectrum in all circles, giving it the widest mobile broadband footprint across the country,” the telco said.
Idea Cellular spent 128 billion rupees to acquire 349.2 megahertz of spectrum in the 180 MHz, 2.1 GHz, 2.3GHz and 2.5GHz bands.
India to become the key growth market for the mobile industry
In related news, a GSMA study revealed that India will become the industry’s key growth market in the coming years, overtaking China.
The GSMA forecasts that more than 1 billion additional people worldwide will be connected to mobile networks by 2020. Approximately a third of these new users – 337 million – will come from India. China is forecast to add more than 200 million subscribers and there also will be major net subscriber contributions from Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Myanmar. In total, these six Asian markets will represent nearly 60% of the 1.1 billion new subscribers added globally by the end of the decade.
