India has concluded its second 5G auction, selling $1.35 billion worth of spectrum.

However, that figure is way below the amount of spectrum put up for auction by India's Department of Telecommunication (DoT), which had put $11.53bn worth of spectrum up for sale.

The auction concluded yesterday, with 141.4 MHz of spectrum sold in total.

5G airwaves across eight bands were auctioned earlier this week, including 5G airwaves in 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1,800 MHz, 2.1 GHz, 2.3 GHz, 2.5 GHz, 3.3 GHz, and 26 GHz bands.

“The unsold spectrum will again be put to auction next time,” said India's Ministry of Communications.

Bharti Airtel spent the most during the auction, at $820.8 million, followed by Vodafone Idea (Vi), which is yet to launch its 5G network. The telco spent $420.5m.

Reliance Jio, the country's biggest operator, spent $116.7m.

India's previous spectrum auction in 2022 drew significantly more interest from the country's carriers. Jio spent $11 billion while Airtel spent $5.4bn. Vi received rights to spectrum worth $2.4bn, while Adani purchased spectrum rights worth approximately $27m.

However, only Jio and Airtel have launched 5G networks, with Vi struggling to fund its rollout. The carrier's CEO Akshaya Moondra said in January that its 5G launch is about "six to seven months away." If accurate, the company should be launching the service next month or in August.

The auction had been delayed on four occasions, after it had initially been set to take place in March.

It was then set to take place last month before it was delayed until June 6 due to the country's general election.

However, just days before the proposed auction earlier this month, it was once again delayed by India's Department of Telecommunications (DoT).