All the private bidders have shown great support to the government in the 5G spectrum auction of 2022. The telcos have shown their support by giving the government almost Rs 1.5 lakh crore in five days of bidding. The spectrum auction has been moved to day 6, which will be today. What’s great here to see is that the bidders have invested money in the 5G spectrum as well as the spectrum required for 4G services. This signifies that the telcos don’t just want to be the first ones to launch 5G but also to expand their 4G services. Since not every consumer will be jumping to 5G as soon as it is available, it is important for the telcos to invest more in the 4G spectrum and network infrastructure. If the telecom operators didn’t have a plan to get a return on their investment, they wouldn’t have spent so much money in the spectrum auctions. The 5G spectrum auctions of 2022 also saw a new bidder, namely Adani Data Networks, owned by the Adani Group. But the bids made by the Aani Group were pretty small and understandably so.
Telcos Being Bullish on Sector is a Good Sign
If the telcos are bullish on the sector, it means that there is some revenue potential here. How the telcos will monetise 5G is something that only time will tell. But 4G is already being monetised in a very heavy manner in India, and the private telcos have 4G network PAN-India. Ashwini Vaishnaw, India’s telecom minister, also thanked the entire telecom industry for its great response to the spectrum auction of 2022. Further, Vaishnaw had also said that there is a scope for a new telecom operator. But whether this will happen or not for sure will be known in the future only. For now, let’s just see how much will the telcos bid during the sixth day of the spectrum auction.
