(Adds analyst comment)
By Sankalp Phartiyal
NEW DELHI, March 2 (Reuters) - Reliance Jio Infocomm, the
telecoms company backed by Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani and
tech giants Facebook and Google, won airwaves
worth about $8 billion in a $10.6 spectrum auction that closed
on Tuesday.
Jio picked up a total of 488.35 megahertz (Mhz) in frequency
bands of 800 Mhz, 1800 Mhz and 2300 Mhz, India's telecoms
secretary Anshu Prakash told reporters.
The top three Indian wireless carriers - Jio, Bharti Airtel
and Vodafone Idea - together bought airwaves
worth 778.15 billion rupees ($10.60 billion) at the close of the
two-day auction, Prakash said.
Airtel purchased spectrum worth 186.99 billion rupees, while
Vodafone Idea bought airwaves for 19.93 billion rupees.
Both Jio and Bharti said the additional airwaves will help
them to serve hundreds of millions of new users, in addition to
existing customers, while Vodafone said its new airwaves will
help it to enhance 4G coverage and capacity.
"With our increased spectrum footprint, we are ready to
further expand the digital footprint in India as well as get
ourselves ready for imminent 5G rollout," Reliance Chairman
Mukesh Ambani said in a statement.
Ambani, who won the backing of Facebook, Google and Qualcomm
for Jio's parent company last year, has previously said
his company is looking to launch 5G services in India during the
second half of 2021.
Jio will make an upfront payment of 199.39 billion for the
airwaves, it said. The remainder will be paid over 18 years.
Ambani bet more than $30 billion on Jio, which was launched
in late 2016. Its free voice services and cut-price data forced
some rivals out of the market while others had to consolidate.
"Spectrum acquisition for bolstering the data capabilities
remained the theme of these auctions," Ankit Jain, Assistant
Vice President at rating agency ICRA, said in a note, adding
that telecoms sector debt levels would rise to about 5 trillion
rupees by the end of March 2022.
($1 = 73.3870 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Sankalp Phartiyal
Editing by Louise Heavens and David Goodman
)
Vodafone (VOD)