Four companies bid a total of $19 billion at India’s 5G spectrum auction, and acquired 71 per cent of a total 72GHz spectrum on offer.
Reliance Jio bagged more than half of the total spend to secure airwaves worth $11 billion. Jio is currently India’s largest telecom provider.
Bharti Airtel acquired 19,800MHz of spectrum, securing a pan-Indian footprint in the 3.5GHz and 26GHz bands, in addition to bolstering its mid-band holding. In total, Airtel won airwaves for $5.4 billion.
Vodafone Idea bought $2.4 billion worth of spectrum.
Adani Enterprises – q new market entrant – purchased nearly $27 million-worth, which it will use to offer private 5G network services.
Kantipudi Pradeepthi, telecom research analyst at GlobalData, noted that the total spend of $19 billion is an “encouraging” result and proves that the telecom sector is “ready for the expansion and 5G service rollout.”
She added “5G spectrum is crucial for Indian telcos to power their revenue growth by offering ultra-high speed wireless network services.”
Last updated: December 26th, 2025
