Adani halts telecom ambitions, transfers spectrum rights to Bharti Airtel
Adani Data Networks, a wholly owned subsidiary of Adani Enterprises Ltd, on Tuesday said it has signed definitive agreements with Bharti Airtel and its arm Bharti Hexacom to transfer the rights to use 400MHz of spectrum in the 26GHz band. With this move, Adani has effectively signalled a pause to its ambitions to use the telecom licence and spectrum to connect its ports, airports and other facilities.
Notably, Adani has paid around ₹ 57 crore to the department of telecommunications (DoT) for the spectrum purchase and the remaining amount of over ₹ 150 crore (excluding interest) will be paid by Airtel to DoT over the years, officials aware of the matter said. In addition to the payment, there will be an interest component in the yearly instalment method, officials added.
The spectrum trading assumes significance as the Adani group, which acquired the spectrum for ₹ 212 crore in a 2022 auction, was not able to deploy it for connectivity in its ports, airports, logistics, power plants, etc.
'Airtel has taken over the payment obligation from Adani. Now onwards, Airtel will pay the annual amount to DoT in August every year,' an industry executive said, asking not to be identified.
The 26GHz band is crucial for enterprise connectivity and would be required for telecom operators to build capacity going forward to handle the increase in traffic on 5G, analysts said, adding that the band has less device ecosystem and is not being put to use widely. Telecom operators Jio and Airtel have been using some 26GHz spectrum band in rolling out the fixed wireless access (FWA) broadband services as well.
'The spectrum covers six telecom circles—Gujarat (100MHz), Mumbai (100MHz), Andhra Pradesh (50MHz), Rajasthan (50MHz), Karnataka (50MHz) and Tamil Nadu (50MHz),' Adani Enterprises said in an exchange filing.
In a separate filing, 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).'
In July 2022, Adani Data bought 400MHz of spectrum in the 26GHz band after acquiring the unified licence, which is needed to provide telecom services. At that time, the Adani group clarified that it will not provide consumer mobility service and use the spectrum for private captive networks for connectivity in ports, airports, logistics, power generation, etc.
'The 26GHz band is yet to find a use case worldwide. There is no benefit for Airtel at the moment, but the spectrum has future potential once the ecosystem grows. There will be a requirement for enterprise connectivity and industrial automation solutions through captive private networks,' said Satya N. Gupta, former principal adviser at the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai).
The private network as a use case for 5G, however, has not picked up so far in the country, according to Gupta.
Lately, DoT also sent multiple communications to Adani Group asking why the company was not able to meet minimum rollout obligations of launching 5G services, officials said, adding that the company was looking at the option to surrender or trade the spectrum as it was unable to find use-cases for its deployment.
At that auction, Airtel had acquired 17,600 MHz of 26GHz spectrum for ₹ 5,592 crore.
Adani, however, continues to hold the unified licence, which means that it can enter the telecom sector whenever it wants to at a later stage, another industry executive said.
First Published: 22 Apr 2025, 09:21 PM IST
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It made the same observations regarding large scale destruction of mangroves and obstruction of creek systems and natural flow of seawater because of reclamation. It made no difference. On September 14, 2012, the Minister of State of Environment and Forests (MoEF), Jayanthi Natarajan constituted a Committee under the Chairmanship of Sunita Nair, the Director General of CSE, for an inspection of Mundra port. It reached the same conclusions as its predecessors. Also read: 'Modi's Hands Tied Due to US Investigation into Adani,' Says Rahul Gandhi All the inspectors and experts have also observed that the Mundra thermal plants of Adani and Tata released fly ash, despite the terms of the 2007 clearance. In 2011 the Gujarat Pollution Control Board Inspection revealed that about 27,127 MT of fly ash was found to be dispersed in low-lying areas of the MPSEZ. The Sunita Nair committee made a similar observation. 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By the end of Modi's chief ministership, the combined market value of Adani Enterprises, Adani Power and Adani Ports and Special Economic Zones (APSEZ) were close to the value of Reliance Industries – whereas the Adani group was five hundred times smaller only 13 years before, in 2001. Indeed, the turnover of the group rose more than 20-fold, from Rs 37.41 billion in 2001-02 to Rs 756.59 billion in 2013-14. In fact, the rise of the Adani group accelerated in 2013 and 2014 when Modi became a strong contender to the post of Prime Minister: the market capitalisation of its companies increased by 250% between September 2013 – when Narendra Modi was declared the BJP's official candidate for prime ministership – and September 2014. Between September 2013 and May 2014, the wealth of Gautam Adani had already increased by Rs 501.31 billion because of the market capitalisation of his companies (it increased by Rs 18 billion every day during the week that followed Modi's electoral success). Mukesh Ambani's wealth increased by 'only' Rs 305.03 billion rupees (US$ 3.81 billion) during the same period. This sudden prosperity could be explained only by Adani's close relation with Narendra Modi – which became obvious when Modi used Adani's chartered plane on his campaign trail across India in the run-up to the 2014 elections. On May 22, 2014, the day he was sworn in as prime minister, he flew to New Delhi from Ahmedabad in Adani's private aircraft, the Indian flag embossed on the aircraft to his right, and on his left, an embossed logo of the Adani Group – the duo was transitioning from the state to the national level. Today's situation is the legacy of these Gujarat years which saw the making of a new oligarch. Since then, the mutual dependence has further deepened. Both men need each other in a very classic manner: the politician offers protection to the crorepatti who pays for his expenditures – including election campaigns whose cost represented billions of dollars in 2014, 2019 and 2024. Whether Narendra Modi can help Gautam Adani to escape from the American investigations remains to be seen as easily as from the Indian ones. In diplomatic relations, there are wheels within wheels. This article draws from my latest book: Gujarat under Modi. The Blueprint of Today's India, Bangalore, Westland/Context, 2024. Christophe Jaffrelot is Senior Research Fellow at CERI-Sciences Po/CNRS, Paris, Professor of Indian Politics and Sociology at King's College London, Non resident Scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and Chair of the British Association for South Asian Studies. The Wire is now on WhatsApp. Follow our channel for sharp analysis and opinions on the latest developments. Advertisement
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a day ago
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