Year 2021 has been truly unique for the telecom sector, where the mock auction lasted longer than the actual spectrum auction. Now that the dust is settling on all the action, we at OnlyTech have been evaluating the overall spectrum portfolio of all 3 private telcos. Before the auction, Vodafone Idea prided itself for owning the largest Sub-GHz and overall spectrum holding Pan India but this auction has reshuffled the pecking order and Vi no longer holds the crown.
Sub GHz spectrum portfolio:
Spectrum held by telecom operators in frequency bands lower than 1 GHz is termed as sub GHz spectrum. This includes the holdings in 700 MHz, 850 MHz and 900 MHz bands. After the current auction ended, Jio now boasts the largest Sub GHz footprint of 395 MHz Pan India, followed by Airtel with 340.6 MHz and lastly Vi with 282.4 MHz. The circle-wise sub GHz portfolio of all 3 operators is given in the table below.
| Circle | Vi | Airtel | Jio |
|---|---|---|---|
| AP | 10 | 25.5 | 12.5 |
| Assam | 0 | 16 | 10 |
| Bihar | 0 | 22.4 | 20 |
| Delhi | 20 | 14.5 | 17.5 |
| Gujarat | 22 | 8.4 | 20 |
| Haryana | 24.4 | 10 | 20 |
| HP | 0 | 20 | 20 |
| J & K | 0 | 12.4 | 10 |
| Karnataka | 10 | 17.6 | 20 |
| Kerala | 24.8 | 9.2 | 20 |
| Kolkata | 14 | 14 | 20 |
| MP & CG | 14.8 | 10 | 20 |
| Maharashtra | 28 | 10 | 20 |
| Mumbai | 22 | 15 | 25 |
| North East | 0 | 20 | 10 |
| Odisha | 10 | 22.4 | 20 |
| Punjab | 11.2 | 20 | 20 |
| Rajasthan | 12.8 | 12 | 20 |
| Tamil Nadu | 10 | 10 | 20 |
| UP East | 11.2 | 22.4 | 20 |
| UP West | 22.4 | 10 | 10 |
| West Bengal | 14.8 | 18.8 | 20 |
| Total | 282.4 | 340.6 | 395 |
Overall Spectrum Portfolio:
The overall spectrum portfolio includes the spectrum holding of the operators across all frequency bands including 700 MHz, 850 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz, and 2500 MHz bands. After the current auction ended, Airtel holds the largest spectrum portfolio with 2107.1 MHz Pan India, followed by Vi with 1768.4, and ironically Jio which won the largest quantum of spectrum in the auction still has the smallest overall spectrum holding among the three. The circle-wise sub GHz portfolio of all 3 operators is given in the table below.
| Circle | Vi | Airtel | Jio |
|---|---|---|---|
| AP | 43.2 | 108.3 | 72.5 |
| Assam | 80 | 106.9 | 70 |
| Bihar | 55.6 | 118.4 | 80 |
| Delhi | 71.2 | 78.5 | 77.5 |
| Gujarat | 113.6 | 88.4 | 80 |
| Haryana | 106 | 90 | 80 |
| HP | 42.4 | 100 | 80.8 |
| J & K | 54 | 102.4 | 70 |
| Karnataka | 50 | 107.6 | 80 |
| Kerala | 114.8 | 79.2 | 80 |
| Kolkata | 84 | 64 | 80 |
| MP & CG | 92 | 90 | 80 |
| Maharashtra | 122.8 | 90 | 80 |
| Mumbai | 91.2 | 77 | 85 |
| North East | 81.6 | 100 | 70 |
| Odisha | 74 | 101.2 | 80 |
| Punjab | 71.2 | 100 | 80 |
| Rajasthan | 82.8 | 102 | 80 |
| Tamil Nadu | 62.8 | 100 | 80 |
| UP East | 91.2 | 104.4 | 80 |
| UP West | 92.4 | 100 | 70 |
| West Bengal | 91.6 | 98.8 | 81.2 |
| Total | 1768.4 | 2107.1 | 1717 |
Please note: Holding in FDD bands (700/850/900/1800/2100 MHz) is paired and is thus multiplied by 2 to bring it at par with TDD bands (2300/2500 MHz) unpaired holdings. All figures mentioned in the tables exclude the spectrum holdings that are set to expire this year up to December 2021. The entire spectrum holding of Jio is liberalised while some amount of spectrum held by Airtel and Vi is still unliberalised and will expire in 2024. For the complete details of band-wise and circle-wise spectrum holdings of all operators please refer to our Pan India 2021 Spectrum Holding sheet.
Bhai Great work. Can Jio speeds improve after auction?
Theoretically yes, more spectrum equals more bandwidth and higher speeds. Though in practice it will depend on a lot of other external factors. New users are constantly joining the network, even though the addition reported in the last few months is less, that’s only coz Jio is replacing inactive users with active ones. So the increased speeds will become low again in the next 2 to 3 years as more subscribers get added. Tariff hikes will help regulate usage and keep the speed constantly high.
Does it include all spectrum or only liberalised one
It includes both liberalised as well as non liberalised. Only spectrum expiring in 2021 is not included. But now very little non liberalised spectrum remains with Airtel and Vi, so the ranking doesn’t change even if you consider only liberalised spectrum also.