Jio acquires additional spectrum in 1800 MHZ band in Bihar, West Bengal to consolidate its leadership position
Jun 26, 2024
Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], June 26 : In the spectrum auction conducted by the Department of Telecommunications which concluded on Wednesday, Jio, India's leading digital services provider, acquired additional spectrum in the 1800 MHz band in Bihar and West Bengal.
With this acquisition, Jio has expanded its 1800 MHz band spectrum in two circles.
A Jio press release said that the company's spectrum footprint has increased to 26,801 MHz (uplink + downlink), solidifying its leadership position.
"Jio has already deployed the largest amount of spectrum pan-India
on bandwidth efficient technologies like 4G and 5G, with this incremental spectrum
acquired to address geography-specific demand and ensure the highest quality customer experience on its network," the release stated.
It said Jio, India's largest digital service provider, is the only operator in India to have access in low-band, mid-band and high-band (700 MHz, 3300 MHz and 26GHz) spectrum "which gives it the unique advantage to provide a superlative experience to customers on 5G".
"We have already demonstrated our commitment to the Digital India Vision by rolling out one of the world's fastest and widest Stand Alone 5G networks within 12 months of allotment of spectrum," Akash M Ambani, Chairman, Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited, said.
"This new spectrum acquisition will continue to enable us serving aspirations of the new India, in terms of growing traffic demands and superior customer experience, which is no longer limited to only urban markets. We want every Indian to enjoy the transformational benefits of Jio's next generation of digital solutions," he added.
According to the company release, in Bihar, 5.0 MHz of paired spectrum was acquired at Rs 420.25 crore. In West Bengal, 9.4 MHz of paired spectrum was acquired at a cost of Rs 553.38 crore.
The company said that a total of 14.4 MHz of paired spectrum was acquired at a cost of Rs 973.63 crore while noting that the numbers are provisional and subject to DoT confirmation.
As per terms of the spectrum auction, the spectrum cost can be paid over 20
equated annual instalments, with interest computed at 8.65 per cent per annum.
