New Delhi: This will be the first time in the country that the country’s veteran businessmen will come face to face. Billionaire industrialists Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani have avoided direct competition over the years despite the expansion of their business empires. Now for the first time, the two will face each other during the spectrum auction for 5G telecom services later this month. Despite the rivalry between the two politically well-connected Gujarati businessmen, there is no outright confrontation between them in the market.
The Adani Group confirmed that it is in the race for telecom spectrum, but said it will use telecom spectrum as a private network to support its businesses ranging from airports. “We are participating in the 5G spectrum auction to provide enhanced cyber security as well as private network solutions in airports, ports and logistics, power generation, transmission, distribution, and various manufacturing operations.
Let us tell you that, this means that the group will not enter the consumer mobile telephony sector, where Ambani’s Reliance Jio is the largest company. Incidentally, telcos strongly opposed any direct allocation of spectrum to non-telecom entities for setting up private captive networks. He said that this would seriously affect his business.
These companies wanted non-telecom companies to lease spectrum from them or set up private captive networks for them. But the government decided in favor of private networks. Applications to participate in the auction of this spectrum capable of providing extremely high-speed internet connectivity such as fifth-generation or 5G telecom services closed on Friday with at least four applicants.
The auction is to be held on July 26. Three private companies in the telecom sector – Jio, Airtel, and Vodafone Idea – have applied for the auction. The fourth applicant is the Adani Group. The group recently acquired national long distance (NLD) and international long distance (ILD) licenses. The auction of telecom spectrum is commencing on July 26, 2022, and during this, a total of 72,097.85 MHz spectrum will be offered for at least Rs 4.3 lakh crore.
Both Ambani and Adani are from Gujarat and have formed large business conglomerates. However, till now the two had not had a direct face-to-face in any business. Ambani’s business has expanded from oil and petrochemicals to telecommunications and retail, while Adani has expanded from ports to coal, power distribution, and aviation. However, some say that the interests of the two are becoming too broad, and the stage is now set for a conflict between them.
Adani has in recent months created a subsidiary to enter the petrochemicals business. Ambani, on the other hand, has also announced multi-billion-dollar plans in the energy business. A source said, “Where is the direct competition between them. Adani will desalinate seawater for use in electrolyzers to produce green hydrogen, while Ambani is looking to carbon-free his oil business.” Another source said they would face off in the spectrum auction, but still, there would be no direct competition on the ground.
