The results for the spectrum auction are out and as expected Reliance Jio has emerged as the operator to have won the highest quantum of spectrum. Jio won a total of 488.35 MHz across its 3 existing bands and did not venture into any new bands. with this acquisition, Jio now has the largest sub GHz footprint and the largest holding in the 2300 MHz band among all private operators. The band-wise details of the spectrum won by Jio are mentioned below.
| Circle | 850 MHz | 1800 MHz | 2300 MHz |
|---|---|---|---|
| Andhra Pradesh | 6.25 | 4.2 | 10 |
| Assam | 0 | 4.6 | 10 |
| Bihar | 5 | 5 | 10 |
| Delhi | 8.75 | 4.6 | 10 |
| Gujarat | 5 | 4 | 10 |
| Haryana | 5 | 5 | 20 |
| Himachal Pradesh | 5 | 0 | 10 |
| Jammu & Kashmir | 0 | 0 | 20 |
| Karnataka | 10 | 5 | 10 |
| Kerala | 10 | 5 | 10 |
| Kolkata | 10 | 0 | 10 |
| Madhya Pradesh | 5 | 3.6 | 10 |
| Maharashtra | 10 | 5 | 10 |
| Mumbai | 7.5 | 3.4 | 10 |
| North East | 0 | 3.6 | 10 |
| Odisha | 5 | 5 | 10 |
| Punjab | 6.25 | 4.8 | 20 |
| Rajasthan | 5 | 0 | 20 |
| Tamil Nadu | 10 | 3.2 | 10 |
| Uttar Pradesh (E) | 5 | 3.6 | 20 |
| Uttar Pradesh (W) | 5 | 5 | 20 |
| West Bengal | 10 | 0 | 10 |
| Total | 133.75 | 74.6 | 280 |
Sh. Mukesh D Ambani, Chairman, Reliance Industries, said, “Jio has revolutionized the digital landscape of India with the country becoming the fastest adopter of Digital Life. We want to ensure that we keep on enhancing experiences, not only for our existing customers but also for the next 300 million users that will move to digital services. With our increased spectrum footprint, we are ready to further expand the digital footprint in India as well as get ourselves ready for the imminent 5G rollout.”
With this acquisition, Jio has increased its spectrum footprint by 55% and also averted the risk of network disruption after the expiry of its existing 850 MHz spectrum. Jio now has a minimum of 2×10 MHz in all circles in the 1800 MHz band and in most circles in the 850 MHz band. Jio also has a minimum of 40 MHz in the 2300 MHz band Pan India. Jio may choose to use some of this spectrum for 5G at an opportune time.
Airtel is going to trade its 3.75, 2.5, 1.25 MHz of Band 5 to Jio in A.P, Mumbai & Delhi respectively.
Airtel and Jio are friends behind the scenes and they are getting ready for duopoly.
Yes, either trade or share, but definitely one of the two. They had pre-coordinated with each other before bidding.
Hello Esmail. I really doubt about spectrum sharing. Jio would not like to loose it’s advantage by sharing premium B5 spectrum. Also, lot of other issues like organising two different network on shared spectrum. For RCOM it was ok because it was Jio’s network and only RCOM name was shown. I feel only trading is on cards.
Could be, but then why did Jio let Airtel get 5 MHz in UP West in band 5 when Jio itself needed that to complete its own 10 MHz footprint? Jio could have easily outbid Airtel if it wanted to.
Good point. If they share B5 then it will be bad for Jio customers, as Airtel customers will also utilise this and it will get chocked. It can be for few circles not for all circles. I ‘m also concerned about number of towers. As Airtel and Jio have different towers and number of Jio towers more than Airtel, implementation seems to be tough task.
Also OEM’s are different for both.
Sharing is possible only in circles where both operators hold spectrum in the same band. In this case Airtel can share with Jio in only 7 circles where they themselves hold at least 1 block of spectrum. Also about the implementation it is not an infrastructure sharing deal so Airtel would still use it’s own towers for its subscribers and Jio would use it’s own towers, both would just deploy a combined 10 or 15 MHz block for their own subscribers.
Currently the Rcom network that you see in the network scan is just a formality for the sake of the spectrum sharing agreement, no one is actually connected to that rcom network, you get connected to Jio network only and use the shared spectrum as a 10 MHz block.
If same block of spectrum is used by 2 operators in same location, it may cause interference. I’m not aware of details of spectrum sharing. For Jio-RCOOM it is same infrastucture.
@esmail rajasthan already has jio band 5 10mhz will this recent addition of 5mhz give it 15mhz? Or will it continue to be using only 10mhz since I belive max mhz can accumulate to 10 only in (band 5)800mhz?
After the expiry of the Rcom spectrum, Jio had only 5 MHz in Rajasthan and now it added another 5 in this auction so in total it now has only 10 MHz. Also, there is no cap that mandates that an operator can hold only 10 MHz in band 5, if one wants they could go for 15 MHz also.