Adani puts Rs 100 crore deposit ahead of 5G auction, unlikely to bid for all India coverage

The group aims to acquire spectrum that to create a private network to support its businesses

Ahead of its participation in the 5G auction, Adani Data Networks submitted an earnest money deposit (EMD) of Rs 100 crore. Based on this deposit, the group received eligibility points of 1,650.

“With Rs 100 crore EMD, Adani Data Networks is unlikely to bid spectrum for pan-India. The company can get 200 MHz of 26 GHz spectrum in selective circles,” said sources in the Department of Technology.

“Adani Data Networks can buy spectrum worth Rs 700 crore with this amount of EMD, and it may be limited to captive networks only,” said the sources.

There were speculations that the Adani group may try to enter pan-India full-scale telecom service, as the company planned to secure 5G spectrum through auction. However, Adani Group said it was in the race to acquire the spectrum to create a private network to support its businesses.

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The group made the application through a newly incorporated Adani Data Networks Limited, which has a net worth of Rs 248.35 crore. The net worth of its promoter firm, Adani Enterprises (Rs 4730.66 crore), will be used to determine the eligibility for the bids.

For the 5G auction that is scheduled to start on July 26, Reliance Jio Infocomm submitted an EMD of Rs 14,000 crore, while Bharti Airtel put in Rs 5,500 crore.

According to the list of pre-qualified bidders posted on the telecom department’s website, Vodafone Idea has put in an EMD of Rs 2,200 crore.

Typically, EMD amounts give a broad indication of players’ appetite, strategy and plan to pick up a spectrum in an auction. It also determines the eligibility points through which the telcos target a specific amount of spectrum in a given circle.

With its EMD at Rs 14,000 crore, the eligibility points assigned to Reliance at the auction stand at 1,59,830—the highest in the list of four bidders.

The eligibility points allocated to Airtel are 66,330, while those given to Vodafone Idea are 29,370.

Total 72 GHz (gigahertz) of spectrum worth at least Rs 4.3 lakh crore will be put on the block during the auction.

The auction will be held for radio waves in various low frequency bands (600 MHz, 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz), mid (3300 megahertz) and high frequency bands (26GHz).