India: Much-awaited auction for 5G spectrum commences, business giants participate

The much-awaited auction for the 5G telecom spectrum commenced on Tuesday. Reliance Jio, Adani Group, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea are the four major participants in the auction.

The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi had recently approved the Department of Telecommunications' (DoT) 5G spectrum auction, through which this spectrum will be assigned to bidders to provide 5G services to the public, as well as to enterprises.

India is expected to get full-fledged 5G services by March 2023, said Union Communications Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw at a recent event.

Vaishnaw said that the auction of the 5G spectrum will be completed by the end of July, adding:

"Telecom is the primary source of digital consumption and it is very important to bring a trusted solution in telecom. India has its own stack of 4G like radio, equipment, and handset. 4G is ready to deploy in the field and 5G is ready in the lab, and 5G will be ready to deploy in March 2023. The technology, core network behind 5G services should be built up by India, that would be an achievement for the country."

In terms of speed, 5G services would be about 10 times faster than the current 4G services.

Gautam Adani-led Adani Group participating in the bidding process of the 5G telecom spectrum auction is something special, as it is the company's foray into the telecom sector. However, the group has no intention to enter the consumer mobility space.

Adani Group is participating in the 5G auction to provide private network solutions along with enhanced cyber security at airports, ports and logistics, power generation, transmission, distribution, and various other manufacturing operations.

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