Bharti Airtel, India’s leading telecommunications services provider, announced today that it will lead the
country’s 5G revolution.
The telecom firm announced the acquisition of 19,800 MHz spectrum by securing a pan-India footprint
of 3.5 GHz and 26 GHz bands. Furthermore, the company was able to selectively increase mid-band
spectrum.
The Department of Telecom, Government of India, secured this massive spectrum bank for a total
consideration of 43,084 cr in the most recent spectrum auction. In this auction, Airtel secured 5G spectrum for 20 years. The addition of this vast amount of spectrum to an already industry-leading pool of spectrum means that the company will not need to spend a significant amount of money on spectrum for many years to come.
Furthermore, by acquiring this spectrum, Airtel has been able to significantly reduce the payout
towards spectrum usage charge (SUC) and eliminate the adverse SUC arbitrage compared to new
entrants. Airtel now has the largest mobile broadband footprint in the country, putting it in a strong position to
usher in the 5G revolution in India.
Airtel has led the industry and spearheaded 5G technology in India over the last year, testing several use
cases with multiple partners in a variety of locations. It has created and nurtured a vibrant ecosystem of partners and start-ups to support faster adoption of next-generation technologies, from demonstrating India’s first 5G experience over a live 4G network in Hyderabad to India’s first rural 5G trial to the first cloud gaming experience on 5G to the successful deployment of India’s first captive private network on the trial spectrum.