Why in news?
India’s biggest ever spectrum auction ended with bids upwards of Rs 1.5 lakh crore.
How much spectrum was bought by the applicants?
- A total of 51.2 GHz of spectrum was sold of the total 72 GHz that was up for grabs – close to 71%.
- The total spectrum sold was good enough for covering all circles in the country, estimating good coverage of 5G in the next two-three years.
- At Rs 1.5 lakh crore, the final total bids have exceeded expectations, surpassing the government’s internal estimates of receiving bids of around Rs 1 lakh crore.
- Reliance Jio emerged as the largest spender in the 5G spectrum auction, acquiring almost half of all the airwaves sold for more than Rs 88,000 crore.
- All the bands were sold at base price, except for the 1,800 MHz band.
Reason behind the auction fetching more cash than estimated