Billionaire Gautam Adani-led Adani Group is reportedly planning to participate in the 5G spectrum auction to be held later this month. According to Business Standard, Adani Group is looking to enter India’s telecom sector, which currently has three private and four public players. The auction is likely to see participation from four companies, Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea (VI), but the fourth could be an Adani Group branch.
For the 5G spectrum auction, all four players will have to submit ownership details by July 12 and a bidder-ownership compliance certificate a few days later. Then, there will be a pre-qualification of the bidders. Any company can withdraw from the auction till July 19, while the final bidders will be announced the next day. The spectrum auction will be held on July 17 where a total of 72,097.85 MHz spectrum will be deployed.
So, essentially, if the Adani Group is planning to enter the telecom sector, it should provide the details and lock its position. And if it goes according to plan, we will know whether the rumor holds water or not. The group may also announce the name of its telecom arm.
However, according to some experts, entering the telecom industry by the Adani Group may not be the best move. According to the report, some pundits say that the group is investing heavily in data centers across the country to bring it into the enterprise business. The group recently partnered with a foreign company called EdgeConnex for a joint venture to set up and operate large data centers in Chennai, Navi Mumbai, Noida, Visakhapatnam and Hyderabad. Experts agree that currently dipping toes in water is not the right move.
But, at the same time, some feel that owning 5G spectrum will allow the Adani Group to diversify the business as well as manage data centers with better efficiency and less dependence on established telecom players in the country. Will get
If true, Gautam Adani will join industry stalwarts like Mukesh Ambani and Sunil Bharti Mittal in bidding for lucrative 5G spectrum, which will set the groundwork for the country’s next-generation wireless connectivity. While the group’s plans to offer 5G services are unclear at the moment, other players, Reliance Jio, Airtel, and Vi, are testing 5G across the country as a dry run, when commercial deployment takes place later. The DoT had earlier identified 11 cities that would become the first cities to get 5G connectivity. These include New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Gurugram.
Billionaire post-billionaire Gautam Adani may have plans to launch 5G services in India first appeared on BGR India.
