Bharti Airtel on Tuesday said its subsidiary Bharti Hexacom has signed definitive agreements with Adani Data Networks Limited to acquire rights to use 400 MHz of spectrum in the 26 GHz band, marking a likely exit by the Adani Group from the telecom sector.
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Bharti Airtel (Airtel) on Tuesday said its subsidiary, Bharti Hexacom, has entered into definitive agreements with Adani Data Networks Limited (ADNL) to acquire rights to use 400 MHz of spectrum, signalling the Adani Group dropping to enter the telecom sector.
ADNL, a subsidiary of Adani Enterprises, had acquired the 400 Mhz spectrum in 26 gigahertz (GHz) band for around Rs. 212 crore through an auction held in 2022. It had bought 100 MHz each in Mumbai and 50 MHz each in Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu in the 26 GHz to start private networks.
Sources said Airtel had bought the aforesaid spectrum at much lower than the price at which Adani had bought them from the auctions held in 2022. Sources also said that the Group has cleared all the penalties that it faced for delaying the rollout of its 5G spectrum in India within a year of buying the spectrum.
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) had imposed penalties for failing to meet the minimum rollout obligations, which include launching commercial 5G services within a year of acquiring the spectrum.
Meanwhile, Airtel said, “The closing of the transaction is subject to satisfaction of the standard conditions (including conditions stated in the Spectrum Trading Guidelines) and statutory approval(s).”
With this latest development, Adani Group has signalled not to enter into the telecom segment, compared to its earlier plans to create a private network to support its businesses from airports to power, as well as data centres.
Earlier, there were reports that the company was also considering surrendering the 5G spectrum to the government because of its inability to launch the services.
A private network is a secure network separate from the public Internet, which is connected to a limited number of devices and areas. It can connect only the authorised devices stationed in that area and does not allow outside network interference and vice-versa.
These networks allow businesses to have more control over their data and network management, and can be also tailored to meet the needs of their specific environments, such as factories and warehouses.
Published on April 22, 2025
