Jio deposits Rs. 3 billion cash before the spectrum auction

Ahead of the spectrum auction, which is scheduled to begin on June 6, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has released the amount of real money deposit (EMD) bank guarantee of the applicants, Reliance Jio, Airtel and Vodafone Idea (Vi) who submitted their applications earlier this month.

this reveals that Reliance Jio deposited Rs. 3000 crore, which is more than double the amount of Airtel and Vi combined, which is Rs. 1050 and Rs. 300 million, respectively.

In this auction, the 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz, 2500 MHz, 3300 MHz and 26 GHz bands, valued at Rs. 96,317.65 million. The three companies can bid in any band of any LSA, DoT said.

Airtel and Vodafone Idea need to renew airwaves worth around Rs. 4.2 billion and Rs. 1.95 billion, respectively, according to a previous report. Reliance Jio has no spectrum renewals for this year. The government is expected to receive bids worth Rs. 18 billion, which is only 19% of the spectrum that will be up for sale.

In the 2022 spectrum auction, the government received bids worth Rs. 1.5 lakh crore for 71% of the total 5G spectrum supply, and received an Earnings Money Deposit (EMD) of Rs. 21,800 million.