Jio top 5G bidder with Rs 88,078 crore: Telco buys 24,740 MHz spectrum

Reliance Jio emerged as the top spectrum buyer in the 5G auctions, which concluded on Monday after dragging for seven days. Spending Rs 88,078 crore, Jio acquired 24,740 MHz spectrum across bands. The telco’s total spectrum holding is now higher than rivals Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea.

The government mopped up a little over Rs 1.50 trillion in the auctions. Of the total 72 GHz spectrum put up for auction, 51 GHz was sold, which means 29% remained unsold. This is far better compared with the past two auctions when more than 60% spectrum remained unsold. This shows that the overall reduction of reserve price by about 39% by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) yielded positive results.