Higher earnest money to allow Reliance Jio, Airtel to bid for all 4G bands

Kolkata | Mumbai: Reliance Jio is said to have deposited earnest money of over ₹9,000 crore, which would give it the option to buy 4G spectrum worth ₹45,000-66,000 crore in the upcoming March auction, underlining the telco’s need to renew expiring airwaves and add spectrum to cater to rising data consumption.

Bharti Airtel, the second-largest operator, deposited ₹3,000-3,500 crore, which would allow it to buy 4G airwaves worth ₹15,000-25,000 crore, industry executives aware of the matter said.