Telcos have appetite to buy 4G spectrum due to rise in data consumption: COAI

Telecom companies Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel may have appetite to buy 4G spectrum in the proposed auction of radio waves to address demand in data consumption, industry body COAI said on Friday.

The government is planning to hold the next round of spectrum auction by October this year in which it would sell around 8,000 megahertz of radio waves across several bands at a cumulative value of around Rs 3.8 lakh crore that can be used for 4G services.

“I think Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel have indicated they will be interested in acquiring 4G spectrum because of the rise in demand and traffic pattern has changed. Industry is ready for augmenting 4G spectrum,” COAI Director General Rajan S Mathews told PTI.