New Delhi, Jul 29 (UNI) As India saw a record 5G spectrum auction for 72 GHz (gigahertz) of airwaves at Rs 4.3 lakh crore on day one, analysts said on Wednesday that one of the surprising turns was the attention gained by the 700MHz band, which was left unsold in the last auctions.
The costliest 700 MHz band is ideal for coverage in high-density areas and deep data networks. According to analysts, this band received bids worth nearly Rs 39,000 crore led by Reliance Jio. Pulkit Pandey, the Principal Analyst, Gartner, told IANS that the interest in the 700 MHz band by the telecom companies “indicates the communications service providers (CSPs) are focusing on enhanced indoor coverage, where the 700 MHz bands could play a crucial role”.
“This band could also help CSPs to provide standalone 5G services and introduce network slicing. This could be an indication for CSPs trying to also start working on standalone 5G,” Pandey added.
On the first day of the auction, the 3300 MHz and 26 GHz bands attracted strong bids from the four key players — Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone-Idea, and an Adani group firm. As per IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, there were four rounds of bidding on the first day with the most interest in mid and high-end bands and strong interest in the 3300 MHz and 26 GHz bands. Bids were also received for the 700 MHz band, he said.
According to industry experts, the maximum bids have come from Reliance Jio which could be over Rs 80,000 crore.
According to Pandey, the 5G auction in India is not expected to witness a very aggressive bid-ding approach from any CSPs.
“Reliance Jio, with its highest EMD, is expected to put a strong focus on their existing spectrum bands, which includes the 800 MHz and 1800 MHz. Apart from these bands, they should be focusing a lot on the mid-band (C Band),” he noted. Another thing to note is how these CSPs would be positioning themselves on the mmWave (26 GHz) band because that is expected to be used for enterprise applications, giving the CSPs an edge over the Captive Networks, the auction for which is yet to be planned.
Devroop Dhar, Co-Founder and Board Member, Primus Partners, said that with estimations of 500 million 5G subscribers by 2027 and the internet carrying 56 percent of India’s traffic, Reliance Jio has been the frontrunner of the 5G spectrum race in India followed by Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and Adani Data Networks.
“With only about 30 percent of the towers fiberized and less than 7 percent of households connected through fiber, companies must not simply focus on the spectrum but also give the same importance to the subsequent infrastructure,” Dhar said. As opposed to company business modules, the rollout must be staggered as 5G requires significant infrastructure from telcos and in many cases upgrade of handsets by users.
“A single window clearance or grant of permission for fiber-lay- ing should be considered,” said Dhar. The first-day bids “exceeded all expectations and sur- passed 2015 records”, according to the IT Minister.
