The bid value during the ongoing 5G spectrum auction in India crossed Rs 1.5 lakh crore on Saturday as against Rs 149,855 crore ($18.88 billion) on the fourth day, Rs 149,623 crore on the third day, Rs 149,454 crore on the second day and Rs 145,000 crore on the first day.
The 5G spectrum auction has crossed Rs 1.5 lakh crore after 30 rounds and the auction will continue for a few more days, Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Saturday.
Led by Reliance Jio so far, the 5G spectrum auction conducted by Department of Telecom (DoT) received bids for more than Rs 112 crore in seven rounds on day 5.
There are indications that India’s first 5G spectrum auction will end next week. Mobile operators such as Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea are in the race to buy 5G spectrum. New entrant Adani’s Adani Enterprises is also in the race.
India is selling spectrum in various low (600 MHz, 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz), mid (3300 MHz) and high (26 GHz) frequency bands.
The bid value touched nearly $19 billion against $54 billion worth of airwaves for 72 GHz of radiowaves are available for available for auction.
Jio, which counts global tech giants Facebook and Google among its backers, is expected to be the first carrier to launch 5G services in India.
Adani said in early July that it does not plan to be in the consumer mobility space and instead aims to provide solutions for private 5G networks.
Telecom network suppliers including Nokia and Ericsson are expected to support top mobile network operators for rolling out their 5G.
