Billionaire Gautam Adani-led Adani Group on Saturday confirmed its entry into the race to acquire telecom spectrum, pitching it directly against Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio and telecom czar Sunil Bharti Mittal’s Airtel.
The Group said the spectrum will be used to create a private network to support its businesses from airports to power.
“As India prepares to roll out next generation of 5G services through this auction, we are one of the many applications participating in the open bidding process,” it added in a statement.
Four companies, including Airtel, Jio, Vodafone Idea (Vi) and an Adani Group entity have put in applications to participate in India’s first auction of 5G airwaves starting July 26.
“We are participating in the 5G spectrum auction to provide private network solutions along with enhanced cyber security in the airport, ports & logistics, power generation, transmission, distribution, and various manufacturing operations,” the statement added.
Top industry executives and analysts said Adani’s entry could boost competition levels in the upcoming 5G airwaves sale that till recently was expected to see muted bidding, given the ample spectrum on sale and the presence of just two major bidders in Jio and Bharti Airtel, with cash-strapped Vi likely to be a fringe player.
Under the Notice Inviting Applications (NIA) – which outlines the auction rules – Friday (July 8) was the deadline for submission of applications. Among other key dates, the pre-qualification of bidders is scheduled on July 18 and mock auctions on July 22 and 23.
The government is putting 72 Ghz of 5G frequencies for sale that could net up to Rs 4.5 lakh-crore at base prices. The airwaves will be auctioned for 20 years across 10 bands ranging from 600 Mhz to 26 Ghz at prices recommended by the telecom regulator. While these prices are around 40% less than what the regulator had proposed back in 2018, the telcos have been demanding a 90% reduction from the 2018 level.
Ambani and Adani had till recently not had a direct face-off. While the former expanded from the oil and petrochemicals business into telecom and retail, the latter diversified from the ports segment to coal, energy distribution and aviation.
But increasingly, their interests are overlapping, setting the stage for a clash.
Adani has in the recent months set up a subsidiary for a foray into petrochemicals — a business that Ambani’s father Dhirubhai began with before its downstream and upstream operations.
Ambani too has announced multi-billion-dollar plans for new energy business, including Giga factories for solar panels, batteries, green hydrogen and fuel cells. Adani, who had previously announced plans to be the world’s largest renewable energy producer by 2030, too has unveiled hydrogen ambitions.