India's 5G auction ends: government earns $10.6 billion, but no one is interested in 700MHz

India’s latest spectrum auction ended after two days of bidding, reportedly raising 778 billion rupees ($10.6 billion) for the government, although the 700MHz band suitable for 5G remained untouched due to a high reserve price.

[[384846]]

The final figures were reported by India's Economic Times, while Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea issued separate statements to Indian stock exchanges confirming the auctions were closed.

Airtel said it has committed a total of 18,700 crore rupees for 355.45MHz of spectrum in the sub-GHz, mid-band and 2300MHz bands, giving it the "strongest spectrum bank in India".

It explained that sub-GHz bands will help it improve deep indoor coverage in urban environments, while adding strong mid-band spectrum holdings will help it deliver 5G in the future.

Without disclosing specific details, Vodafone Idea said only that it had purchased spectrum in five telecom service areas to help further boost 4G coverage and capacity.

The two companies and Reliance Jio are reportedly buying spectrum in large quantities mainly to renew licenses that are due to expire in July.

However, similar to the country’s 2016 auction, spectrum in the 700MHz band was unsought.

Airtel explained that it “did not receive any bids from operators for the spectrum band as the high reserve price made it not economically viable for them”.

It added that 700MHz, coupled with 3.5GHz, has the potential to accelerate "India's move towards the top league of digital nations and hence the reserve prices for these bands must be resolved on priority going forward".

Vodafone Idea said it hoped that "large amounts of spectrum in harmonised bands" would be made available to operators at fair prices as the Indian telecom industry gears up for 5G.