As the race for 5G spectrum auction heats up, billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Jio has made a Rs 14,000-crore earnest money deposit while rival Adani group made a modest Rs 100 crore deposit.
The amount of earnest money a corporation must deposit determines how many airwaves it can bid for in the auction.
While the earnest money deposit suggests that Jio, the nation's largest telecom company by subscribers, may be bidding very aggressively in the upcoming auctions, Adani Group may be looking to buy the bare minimum spectrum needed to set up a private network.
Earlier this month, billionaire Gautam Adani's group confirmed it is in the race to acquire spectrum, which it said will be used to create a private network to support its businesses from airports to power as well as data centres.
Speculation about Adani entering the consumer wireless business had alarmed shareholders of rival telcos, bringing back memories of the assault Mukesh Ambani launched six years ago that forced a crowded telecom market to consolidate and crippled the balance sheets of the ones that survived.