How Adani group plans to utilize its 5G spectrum

Gautam Adani is not known to play small stakes. However, in the 5G spectrum auctions, Adani paid spectrum fees of just Rs212 crore while Reliance Jio paid spectrum deposit that was more than 40 times that amount. Even Bharti Airtel paid earnest money that was 20 times higher than what Adani had paid. However, there is a method and plan underlying this move. Adani group plans to use the airwaves that it has acquired at the spectrum auctions to empower its data centres as well as to power its super app underlying all its businesses.

The story of how Adani group plans to use the small amount of spectrum acquired is gradually emerging. Ahead of the auctions, Adani had already made it clear that they did not intend to use the spectrum for providing any services to consumers. Instead, they planned to use the spectrum for their business and for making their digital foray more effective. Apart from data centres, the super app is intended to support businesses from electricity distribution to airports and gas retailing to ports. It will almost be the group interface at one point.

At the spectrum auctions, Adani Data Networks had bought Rs212 crore worth of spectrum in the millimetre wave band, which is supposed to be a  high end band to support data and process intensive projects. The spectrum will be used to create a private network to support its businesses and data centres. Adani Data Networks is currently a subsidiary of Adani Enterprises, which is the incubator of new businesses. Adani has acquired rights to use 400MHz of spectrum in the 26GHz millimetre wave band over the next 20 years.

This is how the grand plan goes. The newly-acquired 5G spectrum worth Rs212 crore at the spectrum auctions, will help to catalyse and create a unified digital platform. This platform, in turn, will accelerate the momentum and the scale of the Adani group's digitisation efforts. One of the big items on the agenda for the Adani group is the rapid and efficient digitization of its core infrastructure, primary industry and B2C business portfolios. That is likely to be very data intensive and process intensive and high quality spectrum will be the key.

It is possible that the Adani group will expand its franchise and its proposition with more spectrum in the coming auctions. For now, the broad strategy is to digitally integrate its current and future businesses. This will also encompass linking its data centres via a network of submarine and terrestrial cables. This will be instrumental in building the largest and most extensive industrial operations cloud in the world. The super app will be the differentiator and a front end for its consumer base of 400 million. These are exciting times.

Adani is already a ports to energy conglomerate and its foray into the industrial 5G space will allow the portfolio of Adani companies to offer add-on services that capitalize on all the other digital segments. The solid bandwidth base will allow the Adani group to make more effective use of data mining techniques, artificial intelligence, implementation of machine learning, making their product movement IOT enabled for better monitoring etc. The group is already envisaging a future where the world and the business are incorrigibly interconnected.