This month, Airtel will begin deploying its 5G network across India
A total of $19 billion was spent by Indian carriers in this week’s auction for 5G spectrum. Once Airtel has completed its 5G rollout in India, the company plans to expand its network across the country. In order to help with the rollout and infrastructure, the carrier has partnered with Ericsson, Nokia, and Samsung.
Sub-6GHz 5G and mmWave spectrum acquisitions cost the company a total of 431 billion ($5.45 billion) in the 900Mhz, 1,800Mhz, 2,100Mhz and 3,300Mhz bands. 3,300MHz and 26GHz are its most important bands. The company has secured the rights to 19.8GHz of spectrum for the next two decades.
A public timeline for the rollout of 5G has not been released by the company. Users in the United States have been able to purchase 5G-capable smartphones for some time, and those devices will finally be available for purchase.
Rivals Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea also bought 5G spectrum, paying $11.2 billion and $2.4 billion, respectively, for 24.7GHz and 6.2GHz. A small portion of the spectrum was also purchased by the Adani Group. Networks of the future are being developed by them.
It’s possible that you’re wondering which carrier purchased what amount of spectrum in each band in each service area and how much they paid for it in the auction results (warning: PDF).
