Ahead of the spectrum auction, which is scheduled to commence on June 6th, the Department of Telecom (DoT) has released the amount of earnest money deposit (EMD) bank guarantee by the applicants, Reliance Jio, Airtel and Vodafone Idea (Vi) that have submitted their applications earlier this month.
This reveals that Reliance Jio has deposited Rs. 3000 crore, which is more than twice the amount of both the Airtel and Vi combined, which is Rs. 1050 and Rs. 300 crore, respectively.
This auction will see 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz, 2500 MHz, 3300 MHz, and 26 GHz Bands being auctioned, valued at Rs. 96,317.65 crore. All the three companies can bid in any band in any LSA, said DoT.
Airtel and Vodafone Idea need to renew airwaves valued at around Rs. 4,200 crore and Rs. 1,950 crore, respectively, according to earlier report. Reliance Jio doesn’t have any spectrum renewals due this year. The government is expected to receive bids worth Rs. 18,000 crore, which is only 19% of the spectrum that will up for sale.
In the 2022 spectrum auction, the government received bids worth Rs. 1.5 lakh crore for 71% of total 5G spectrum bid, and it received earnest money deposit (EMD) of Rs. 21,800 crore.