Airtel powers 5G service with spectrum buy from Adani Data Networks

The Adani group’s expected foray into telecom has come to a halt, three years after its subsidiary — Adani Data Networks Ltd (ADNL) — bought airwaves in the 5G auction. Telecom operator Bharti Airtel on Tuesday announced it would acquire the rights to use 400 MHz of telecom spectrum in the 26GHz band from ADNL, a subsidiary of Adani Enterprises.

 

Sunil Bharti Mittal-led Airtel and its subsidiary, Bharti Hexacom Ltd, have entered into definitive agreements with ADNL.

 

ADNL had acquired airwaves in the 26GHz band in the 2022 5G spectrum auctions for ₹212 crore, in an indication that the group might focus on telecom. The Adani group had mentioned it wanted to create a private 5G network for its operations, and establish a unified digital platform to accelerate digitisation of its core infrastructure. The band was tipped to have significant utility for captive networks, or dedicated 5G networks designed for internal use by a single enterprise.

 

Subsequently, the group was unable to meet the minimum rollout obligations of the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) as the airwaves remained unused.

 

On Tuesday, Airtel said in a statement that the closing of the transaction was subject to satisfaction of the standard conditions (including conditions stated in the Spectrum Trading Guidelines) and statutory approvals. 

 

The spectrum being added to Airtel's holdings is spread across six telecom circles — Mumbai, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan and Karnataka. The addition will help the telco boost its 5G services in these areas, a company official said. 

 

The 26GHz band (24.25-27.5GHz) has drawn particular interest from telcos over the years. Also known as the mmWave band, this band offers ultra-fast data transmission and low latency, even though its range is limited. As a result, it is sought-after in dense urban environments and has been used for specialised enterprise applications and fixed wireless access.

 

Notably, as much as 72 per cent of the spectrum on offer in this band received bids in the 2022 spectrum auctions. But since both Reliance Jio and Airtel had already picked up large chunks of the band on offer back then, it didn't find any takers in the spectrum auctions in 2024.

 

Bharti Airtel had begun re-farming its mid-band spectrum last June to meet a major 5G traffic growth. The telco's spectrum holdings across mid-bands such as 1800, 2100, 2300MHz across the country would be repurposed to provide 5G services. The move will allow enhanced browsing speeds in addition to improved indoor coverage.