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- Published: August 18, 2022 16:43
New Delhi: Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Thursday asked telecom majors to gear up for the 5G launch and take lead in the transformational drive towards higher & faster internet connectivity in the country, as the spectrum allocation procedure has been completed by the concerned department.
Taking to Twitter, the minister wrote “Spectrum assignment letter issued. Requesting TSPs to prepare for 5G launch”.
The Department of Telecom (DoT) has issued spectrum assignment letters to leading telecom service providers, following the upfront payment by successful bidders.
Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio, Vodafone Idea and Adani Data Networks were the leading successful bidders in the recently held 5G auction.
5G update: Spectrum assignment letter issued. Requesting TSPs to prepare for 5G launch.
— Ashwini Vaishnaw (@AshwiniVaishnaw) August 18, 2022
The 5G spectrum auction received a whopping Rs 1.5 lakh crore bidding out of which Mukesh Ambani led Reliance Jio cornered nearly half of the airwaves sold. Jio’s bidding alone stood at ₹87,946.93 crore as it bought spectrum under various wavelengths.
Mittal’s praise of Modi govt over spectrum allocation
Meanwhile, the Bharti Enterprises founder and chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal has praised the government for issuing the 5G spectrum allocation letter along with the airwaves, hours after Airtel made the initial payment for the same.
He informed that his company Bharti Airtel received spectrum allocation letter within hours of upfront payment to the DoT.
Ready to lead India into the next generation of connectivity. #Airtel5G pic.twitter.com/aChm86HIcs
— airtel India (@airtelindia) August 18, 2022
“In my over 30 years of first-hand experience with DoT, this is a first ! Business as it should be. Leadership at work-Right at the top and at the helm of telecom. What a Change ! Change that can transform this nation – power its dreams to be a developed nation,” Mittal said.
Airtel acquired nearly 19,900 MHz spectrum for all-India operation in the 3.5 GHz and 26 GHz bands and also opted for radio waves in low and mid-band spectrum for ₹43,039.63 crore.