BackAirtel acquires spectrum worth ₹18,699 crore in 4G auction
India’s second largest telecom operator by market share bid for sub-gigahertz, or sub-GHz, spectrum across India to improve its 4G coverage indoors and in rural areas.
PremiumBharti Airtel Ltd has acquired 355.45MHz of spectrum worth ₹18,699 crore in the auction for 4G wireless service, the company said in a stock exchange filing on Tuesday.
India’s second largest telecom operator by market share bid for sub-gigahertz, or sub-GHz, spectrum across India to improve its 4G coverage indoors and in rural areas. The band will enable the telco to add 90 million customers, Airtel said. The company also acquired radio airwaves in the mid-range, starting from 1GHz, and 2,300MHz band.
“Airtel has now secured pan India foot print of sub-GHz spectrum that will help improve its deep indoor and in building coverage in every urban town. In addition, this precious spectrum will also help improve its coverage in villages by offering Airtel experience to an additional 90 million customers in India," it said.
Through this auction, Airtel has also strengthened its mid-band and capacity spectrum holdings that will help improve service quality “at marginal capex", the company said. The spectrum bought in this auction will support 5G services in the future.
Airtel released its statement after the two-day auction concluded on Tuesday. According to official numbers from the department of telecommunications (DoT), telcos had placed bids worth ₹77,146 crore on the first day of spectrum auction on Monday, which was way above the government’s pre-bid estimate of ₹45,000 crore.
All three telecom operators—Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd, Airtel and Vodafone Idea Ltd—who submitted earnest money in February, participated in the auction, DoT said.
"At the outset, we would like to thank the government for making abundant spectrum available for auctions. Airtel now has a solid spectrum portfolio that will enable it to continue delivering the best mobile broadband experience in India," said Airtel chief executive Gopal Vittal.
Airtel said despite large chunks of the 700MHz spectrum band being made available, there were no takers for it as it “made no economic sense" owing to its high reserve price.
According to experts, no sale of spectrum in the 700MHz band could force the government to lower its base price. The band was completely unsold in the 2016 auction as well. The band can be used for 5G due to its high efficiency, which also makes it the most expensive among the bands put under the hammer this time.
“The 700MHz band coupled with the 3.5GHz band has the potential to accelerate India's progress to the top league of digitally enabled nations. Therefore, the reserve pricing of these bands must be addressed on priority in future," Airtel said.
The DoT put on the block 2,308.8MHz of spectrum at a base price of ₹3.92 trillion in the auction. Spectrum in the 700MHz, 800MHz, 900MHz, 1,800MHz, 2,100MHz, 2,300MHz, and 2,500MHz bands were put up for sale.
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