A muted spectrum auction ahead

Neeraj Mittal, Secretary, DoT, Department of Telecommunications at Mobile World Congress 2024, Barcelona recently shared that the Indian telcos are “not likely to be big spenders during the upcoming spectrum auction expected in two to three months.”

The industry agrees.

Prashant Singhal, EY Global TMT Emerging Markets Leader. “5G spectrum monetisation is yet to kick off in India and we have the lowest data tariffs globally. Investments ahead of time in spectrum will not be justified. Bidding is likely to be concentrated in circles requiring renewal.”

Gopal Vittal, CEO and Managing Director, Bharti Airtel at Q3 FY24 earnings call

“Airtel is  keen to secure more sub-GHz spectrum. We would want to improve 5G coverage indoors. Otherwise, we do not need spectrum for some time and are aiming to reduce our spectrum auction budget.”

Reliance Jio has also said that it will follow a similar strategy as Airtel for the upcoming auctions, since it did not require large quantities of spectrum. Jio had acquired 24,740 MHz of 5G airwaves worth Rs 88,000 crore in 2022.

Vi needs to renew spectrum worth more than Rs 1,950 crore in the 900 MHz in West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh (West). CEO Akshaya Moondra, CEO, Vi had commented that it the telco will not be looking to buy more spectrum in the near future.

The government has decided to auction spectrum more frequently, preferably on an annual basis, to improve the quality of mobile services.
CT Bureau