Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd (“RJIL”) announces that it has successfully acquired the right to use 269.2 MHz (UL+DL) spectrum across all 22 Service Areas in India in the recently concluded spectrum auction conducted by DOT, Government of India. Service Area wise details of spectrum acquired are as per below.
| Service Area | 800 MHz band (Paired) | 1800 MHz band
(Paired) |
2300 MHz band
(Unpaired) |
| Andhra Pradesh | – | – | 10.00 |
| Assam | – | – | 10.00 |
| Bihar | – | 5.00 | 10.00 |
| Delhi | – | – | 10.00 |
| Gujarat | 5.00 | – | 10.00 |
| Haryana | – | 1.00 | – |
| Himachal Pradesh | – | 5.00 | 10.00 |
| Jammu & Kashmir | – | 10.00 | – |
| Karnataka | – | – | 10.00 |
| Kerala | – | – | 10.00 |
| Kolkata | – | – | 10.00 |
| Madhya Pradesh | – | – | 10.00 |
| Maharashtra | – | – | 10.00 |
| Mumbai | – | – | 10.00 |
| North East | – | – | 10.00 |
| Odisha | – | – | 10.00 |
| Punjab | 3.75 | 5.20 | – |
| Rajasthan | 5.00 | – | – |
| Tamil Nadu | – | – | 10.00 |
| Uttar Pradesh (East) | 1.25 | 3.40 | – |
| Uttar Pradesh (West) | – | 5.00 | – |
| West Bengal | – | 5.00 | 10.00 |
| Total | 15.00 | 39.60 | 160.00 |
RJIL has renewed its expiring spectrum in 800 MHz band in Gujarat circle and purchased additional spectrum in the 800 MHz, 1800 MHz and 2300 MHz bands at 6.5% premium to reserve price.
The purchases are below expectations set by its huge earnest money deposit.
However, given the company’s already strong spectrum footprint, experts anticipated something like this.
Like Airtel, Jio has gone for topping up its 2.3 GHz holding by adding another 10 MHz to it. It’s other expenditures were intended to plug the gap in its 1.8 GHz holding and 800 MHz assets.
This leaves Vodafone as the likely big spender at the 2016 auction. Though the company has not revealed the numbers yet, it looks likely that it spend between Rs 20,000 and Rs 22,000 on purchasing new spectrum in this round.
| VODAFONE | |
| BHARTI | 14244 |
| JIO | 13672 |
| IDEA | 12798 |
| Others | |
| TOTAL | 40714 |
“Through this acquisition, RJIL’s total spectrum footprint has increased to 1,108 MHz (UL+DL) with an average life of over 16 years, further strengthening its leadership position in liberalized spectrum holdings. RJIL’s spectrum footprint ensures availability of spectrum in all the three bands across the country and enhances its network capacity at negligible incremental capital and operating expenditure,” Jio said.
Mukesh D Ambani, Chairman, Reliance Industries said “We have expanded our spectrum footprint thereby significantly enhancing capacity of our all-IP data strong network and ensuring world class services for all Indians. Jio is committed to taking India to global digital leadership by bringing the power of data to all Indians.”
Cost
The payment to be made for the right to use of this technology agnostic spectrum for a period of 20 years is Rs. 13,672 crore, as per the details below:
| Frequency Band | Total Payment |
| 800 MHz | 3,623 |
| 1800 MHz | 2,154 |
| 2300 MHz | 7,895 |
| Total | 13,672 |
