Adani to create pvt network of airwaves

New Delhi: Richest Indian Gautam Adani's group on Tuesday said the Rs212 crore worth of spectrum it has bought in a millimetre wave band will be used to create a private network to support its businesses and data centres.

Adani Data Networks Ltd (ADNL), a unit of Adani Enterprises Ltd, acquired the right to use 400MHz of spectrum in the 26GHz millimetre wave band for 20 years in the auction that concluded on Monday. Adani Group plans to use the airwaves for its data centres as well as the super app it is building to support businesses from electricity distribution to airports, and gas retailing to ports.

"The newly acquired 5G spectrum is expected to help create a unified digital platform that will accelerate the pace and scale of the Adani group's digitisation of its core infrastructure, primary industry and B2C business portfolio," the group said in a statement. Adani group bought less than one per cent of all spectrum sold in the auction and its purchase price was a fraction of Rs 1.5 lakh crore bids that the government received.

The group's broader strategy to digitally integrate its current and future businesses include linking its data centres through a network of submarine and terrestrial cables, building the largest industrial operations cloud in the world, developing the super app to offer a suite of services across its consumer base of 400 million, and establishing a world-class AI centre of excellence.