No disruption: Adani's limited participation indicates captive requirements only

New Delhi, Aug 6 (IANS) Adani Groups limited participation in the 5G spectrum auction points to captive requirements only and allays concerns around potential disruption from a new entrant, Citigroup said in a research note.

There will be a sigh of relief in many quarters at the moment over the limited bidding from Adani in the 5G spectrum auction, JM Financial said in a report.

Adani's bid was limited, at only Rs 2.1 bn, to acquire 26 GHz mm Wave spectrum in six circles (including Gujarat, Mumbai, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka); this might be used only for captive use across its various businesses, the report said.

ICICI Securities said in a report that Adani remained selective and restricted to 26GHz. Adani Data Networks was surprisingly very conservative in purchase of spectrum vs concerns in the market. It purchased a total of 400MHz spectrum in 26GHz band.

It has purchased 100MHz each in Mumbai and Gujarat, understandably due to its port and airport operations. It has bought 50MHz spectrum each in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan. The total payout is Rs 2 bn for Adani.

Adani Data Networks Ltd (ADNL), the digital connectivity solutions arm of the Adani Group, has acquired the right to use 400MHz of spectrum in the 26GHz millimetre wave band.

ADNL secured this spectrum for 20 years in the first ever 5G spectrum auction conducted by the Department of Telecom.

The newly-acquired 5G spectrum is expected to help create a unified digital platform that will accelerate the pace and scale of the Adani Group's digitisation of its core infrastructure, primary industry and B2C business portfolio.

The acceleration of digital enablement will have material long term improvement in the rate of return on assets. Acquiring 400MHz of spectrum is the group's first step in integrating its digital infrastructure portfolio, which includes data centres, terrestrial fibre and submarine cables, industrial cloud, AI innovation labs, cybersecurity and SuperApps, a company statement said.

"We must compliment the transparent and efficient process of this first 5G multi-band multi-round multi-player spectrum auction. It is a great manifestation of the digital expertise our government brings in the journey to an Aatmanirbhar Bharat. 5G solves our nation's connectivity needs in unprecedented ways and will be crucial in helping us prepare the IT infrastructure we need for the future," said Gautam Adani, Chairman of the Adani Group.

"The Adani Group's foray into the industrial 5G space will allow our portfolio companies to offer a set of new add on services that capitalises on all the other digital segments we are building. Given that our portfolio is a highly distributed asset intensive investment that are all being revolutionized by sensorisation and fast becoming IoT enabled, we believe the next data surge will be created more by machines than by people as all devices get interconnected.

"This data will need to be streamed, stored, processed, and analysed by other machines in real time and this capability will change every single industry. It will help build a set of services that the market cannot even fully conceptualize today. This volume will be exponentially higher and generated at the edges, especially in a country like India, where the Tier 2 and 3 cities are witnessing the fastest all-round growth," he added.

The group's broader strategy to digitally integrate its current and future businesses includes linking its data centres through a network of submarine and terrestrial cables, building the largest industrial operations cloud in the world, developing the super app to offer a suite of services across its consumer base of 400 million, and establishing a world-class AI centre of excellence.