Assessing operators’ bidding strategies based on the earnest money deposited ahead of the upcoming spectrum auction, analysts predict that Vodafone Idea will considerably lag behind Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio in 5G deployment, thus ensuring that the telecom market becomes a virtual duopoly.
Analysts believe that the operator will give sub-GHz spectrum — 700MHz — a skip this time around, and buy 3.5GHz in specific circles only, instead of nationwide. Therefore, experts agree that Bharti Airtel would gain from Vi’s market share loss due to its minimal 5G deployment. Adani’s threat in the consumer mobility telecommunications space can also be ruled out for now as Vi’s prospects wane and a future acquisition by Adani of Vodafone Idea is off the table.
According to Department of Telecommunications disclosure, the third largest operator submitted an earnest money deposit of ₹2,200 crore for the upcoming 5G auctions. This pales in comparison to the submissions made by…