Bharti Airtel bags 355.45 MHz spectrum in DoT Spectrum Auction 2021
Bharti Airtel has acquired 355.45 MHz spectrum across Sub GHz, mid band, and 2300 MHz bands for INR 186.99 billion ($2.55 billion) in the Spectrum Auction 2021 held by the Indian Department of Telecommunications (DoT).
The digital communication solutions provider said that it has now secured pan India presence of Sub GHz spectrum that will help enhance its deep indoor and in building coverage in all the urban towns.
Apart from that, Airtel said that the acquired 355.45 MHz spectrum will help boost its coverage in villages by providing its services to 90 million more customers across India.
Airtel said that it has also bolstered its mid band and capacity spectrum holdings decisively via the DoT Spectrum Auction 2021. The company claims that this will enable it to offer an excellent customer experience at marginal capex.
Besides, all of the spectrum will allow Airtel to offer 5G services in the future.
Bharti Airtel bags 355.45 MHz spectrum in DoT Spectrum Auction 2021. Photo courtesy of Shrutuja Shirke/Wikipedia.org.
Gopal Vittal – MD & CEO (India & South Asia) at Bharti Airtel said: “At the outset, we would like to thank the Government for making abundant spectrum available for auctions. Airtel now has a solid spectrum portfolio that will enable it to continue delivering the best mobile broadband experience in India.
“We are most excited at bringing the power of Airtel services to an additional 90 million customers in India through the power of our Pan India Sub GHz footprint.”
Airtel also said that although the huge amount of spectrum was made available, the 700 MHz band bands did not draw any bid from the operators as it was not economically feasible for them due to the high reserve prices.
The digital communication solutions provider said that the 700 MHz band along with the 3.5 GHz band can potentially fast-track India’s progress to join digitally enabled countries.