The auction for spectrum offers various frequency bands:
- low-band: 600 MHz, 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz, and 2500 MHz.
- mid-band (C-band): 3.3 GHz to 3.67 GHz.
- high-band: 26 GHz.
5G auction in India

The first day of the auction had four rounds of bidding for the mid and high bands (3.3 GHz to 26 GHz). Even the low-band (700 MHz) that previously gained no interest from telecom companies saw heavy bidding in this auction, with 40 percent of the 700 MHz low-band sold. The government has made 72 GHz of 5G airwaves across ten bands available for purchase for the base price of 4.3 lakh crore for the final five rounds on the second day.
The earnest money deposit (EMD) of all four companies in the 5G auction is Rs 21,400 crore. Reliance Jio submitted Rs 14,000 crore, while Bharti Airtel gave Rs 5,500 crore. Vodafone Idea put in Rs 2,200 crore, and Adani Data Networks deployed Rs 100 crore. The auction’s rules prohibit any early announcement of the specifics of the 5G spectrum bid – and which spectrum was won by which company will only get disclosed after the entire process is complete.