Bharti Airtel likely to skip India 5G airwaves auction due to high price

MUMBAI (NewsRise) -- Bharti Airtel may skip the Indian government's upcoming spectrum auction for next-generation cellular technologies because of the high price of airwaves, as the mobile phone carrier reels under staggering debt and government levies.

India is set to sell spectrum worth about $74 billion -- mostly 5G airwaves -- in an auction scheduled in the first quarter of the next fiscal year that begins in April. The high-speed 5G networks are crucial for new internet technologies such as artificial intelligence and cloud computing. The government is hoping for a windfall from the auction to bridge its widening fiscal deficit amid shrinking tax collections.