5G auction: bids cross record ₹1.5 lakh cr mark; Jio top bidder

With capable of offering speeds about 10 times faster than 4G and lag-free connectivity, billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Jio emerging as the top bidder to consolidate its leadership position.

A record over Rs 1.5 lakh crore worth of 5G telecom spectrum was sold in a seven-day auction ending on Monday, which according to the reports puts the total bids at Rs 1,50,173 crore.

Reliance Jio was the top bidder and can enable billions of connected devices to share data in real-time. It was followed by Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea Ltd.

New entrant Adani group is said to have bought 26 Mhz spectrum for setting up a private telecom network.

Beer tax! This inflation is hard to gulp

The mop-up from the 5G spectrum, capable of offering ultra-high speed mobile internet connectivity, is almost double at Rs 77,815 crore worth 4G airwaves sold last year and triple of Rs 50,968.37 crore garnered from a 3G auction in 2010.