5G auction begins today: Jio, Airtel, Adani in the fray

In what will be a bout of billionaires in the telecom, the 5G auction today will see the likes of Adani, Ambani and Airtel battle it out for 72 GHz of radiowaves worth Rs 4.3 lakh crores.

Jio, it is expected, will lead the spends, followed by Bharti Airtel while analysts see limited participation from Vodafone Idea and Adani Group.

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Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Jio has made a Rs 14,000 crore Earnest Money Deposit (EMD) while rival Adani group made a modest Rs 100 crore deposit recently.

EMD itself is reflective of the quantity of airwaves a company can bid for in the auction. By the EMD amount (Rs 100 cr) many are speculating that the world's fourth richest man, Gautam Adani is initially looking to grab 5G just for internal/captive use for the group.

For the upcoming auction, Sunil Mittal-led Bharti Airtel had put in Rs 5,500 crore as EMD while for Vodafone Idea the amount stands at Rs 2,200 crore which surprised many onlookers as the company has faced severe funding pressures.

The bidding process is scheduled to start on Tuesday from 10 am and go on till 6 pm.

The number of days of auction will depend on the actual demand for radiowaves and strategy of individual bidders, sources in the Department of Telecom told news agency PTI.