Billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Jio swept up the lion's share for the 5G spectrum, acquiring close to half of all the airwaves sold in the latest auction for ₹ 88,078 crore. The Centre plans to roll out 5G networks offering up to 10 times the speed of 4G likely by October. 4 companies bid a total of 1.5 trillion rupees ($19 billion) for 20-year 5G licences.

Gautam Adani marked his entry into telecoms by bidding for just over 0.5%. Rival Bharti Airtel bid Rs.431 billion for just over a quarter of the spectrum. Debt-laden Vi, formerly Vodafone Idea, picked up nearly 9% of the bands.

India's long-delayed 5G push comes as the world's sixth-largest economy tries to bridge a technology gap with rivals such as South Korea, China and the United States.