Billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Jio cornered more than half of the telecom spectrum auctioned by the government over the past two days, offering about Rs 57,123 crore to consolidate its holding of the scarce resource that are used to carry mobile call and data signals.
Telecom giant Bharti Airtel bid Rs 18,699 crore to pick up 355.45 megahertz (MHz) out of the 855.60 MHz of radiofrequency, giving it “most formidable” spectrum holding in the country.
Vodafone Idea Ltd, which is facing a huge liability of unpaid statutory dues of past, bought spectrum worth Rs 1,993.40 crore, Telecom Secretary Anshu Prakash told reporters here.
In all, some 60 per cent of the spectrum offered was sold, according to Prakash, who said the bids came at the floor price -- or minimum price that was acceptable to the government. In the first auction of radio airwaves in five years, the government offered 2,308.80 MHz of spectrum in seven bands, at a reserve price of nearly Rs 4 lakh crore. However, airwaves in the premium 700 MHz and 2,500 MHz bands went unsold.
The telecom secretary said 855.60 MHz of spectrum was bought for Rs 77,814.80 crore in the two-day auction.
Spectrum refers to the radio frequencies allocated to the mobile industry and other sectors for communication over the airwaves. This includes FM or AM radio broadcasts and even other wireless forms of communication like Bluetooth and Wi-Fi.
Mobile phones also use these same radio waves to transmit voice calls and data. These frequencies come in different bands, supporting specific technologies as well as governing speed of transmission.