Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio, 7 telecoms to join spectrum auction in March

Eight telecom operators — Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Tata Docomo, Uninor, Idea Cellular, Aircel and Reliance Communications — have submitted applications to participate in the upcoming spectrum auction.

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Mobile service providers, which are not participating in the spectrum auction slated for March 4, include Sistema Shyam TeleServices (MTS India), BSNL, MTNL and Videocon Telecom.

Industry watchers are currently looking for the participation of Mukesh Ambani, the billionaire promoter of Reliance Jio Infocomm, which could not launch 4G services after buying BWA spectrum in 2010.

The presence of Reliance Jio Infocomm, which has pan-India spectrum to launch 4G services on TD-LTE and spectrum in key cities for using FD-LTE, is anticipated to escalate the spectrum price. Sunil Mittal, the promoter of Bharti Airtel, Kumar Mangalam Birla, the promoter of Idea Cellular and others do not want the active participation of Mukesh Ambani in the spectrum race.

Mukesh Ambani
Indications are that Reliance Jio Infocomm will do a soft launch of 4G services in the middle of the year after getting large chunk of spectrum in 2010. Many industry watchers are expecting that the telecom venture of Mukesh Ambani will pose serious challenges to established Indian telecoms as Reliance Jio Infocomm is gearing up to become an AT&T or Verizon of the U.S. – offering voice, data and TV content using the same pipe.

The telecom ministry – headed by telecom and IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad – is planning to sell 103.75 MHz spectrum in 800 MHz band, 177.8 MHz in 900 MHz band and 99.2 MHz in 1,800 MHz band – a total of 380.75 MHz in 800, 900 and 1,800 MHz.

The government will also put on sale 5 MHz in the 2,100 MHz band, which is used for 3G services in 17 out of 22 telecom areas, IANS reported.

The reserve price approved is Rs 3,646 crore pan-India per MHZ in 800 MHz, Rs 3,980 crore for 900 MHz band pan-India and Rs 2,191 crore pan-India in 1,800 MHz band.

The government also approved a reserve price of Rs 3,705 crore per megahertz for third generation services. According to reports, the government expects to mop up Rs 75,000 – Rs 100,000 crore from the auction.

In December 2015, seven licenses each of Idea Cellular and Reliance Communications, four licenses of Bharti Airtel and six licenses of Vodafone will complete their 20-year term after which they have to be renewed.

Baburajan K
editor@telecomlead.com

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