Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea (Vi) are the telcos which already offer 4G services in India and are planning to launch 5G networks very soon. Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) is the company that’s still in the phase of launching 4G and then expanding it to entire India by 2023. The telcos offer services to consumers with the help of the spectrum. Each telco in the country has a different sort of spectrum holding. Let’s take a look at the spectrum holdings of the Indian telecom operators as of July 8, 2022. This will likely change in the coming weeks as the telcos purchase more airwaves in the 5G spectrum auctions scheduled for July 26, 2022.
Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio, Vodafone Idea, BSNL Spectrum Holdings in Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar and Delhi
Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio, Vodafone Idea, BSNL Spectrum Holdings in Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir
Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio, Vodafone Idea, BSNL Spectrum Holdings in Karnataka, Kerala, Kolkata, Madhya Pradesh
Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio, Vodafone Idea, BSNL Spectrum Holdings in Maharashtra, Mumbai, North East, Orissa
Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio, Vodafone Idea, BSNL Spectrum Holdings in Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh (East)
Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio, Vodafone Idea, BSNL Spectrum Holdings in Uttar Pradesh (West), West Bengal
Note that all the data above has been taken from the DoT. Bharti Airtel is using the spectrum holding of M/s BDNPL in the 2300 MHz band in 4 LSAs (licensed service areas), namely Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh (East) and Uttar Pradesh (West). The above tables include the spectrum holdings of M/s BDNPL as part of the total spectrum that Airtel owns despite the fact that the DoT is yet to take the merger of Airtel and M/s BDNPL (erstwhile Tikona) on record. BSNL has not been given 4G spectrum yet. The government is considering whether to assign/re-assign the spectrum in the 900/1800 MHz band to BSNL. The current holdings of BSNL are also in the above table. Once the 5G spectrum auction takes place on July 26, this data will change. All the private telcos are expected to purchase airwaves in the mid-band range and some airwaves in the mmWave range for offering B2B services.
