India's Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has delayed the country's upcoming 5G spectrum auction until June.

Initially due to take place on May 20, the auction has now been moved back 17 days until June 6, because of the upcoming elections.

As reported by ETTelecom, the mock auction set to be held on May 13-14, will start on June 3.

The DoT amended the notice inviting applications to push the date back at the request of India's three telcos, Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, and Vodafone Idea, who want the auction to take place after the election results are finalized.

India's general election is set to start on April 19, with results declared on June 4.

A total of 10,523.15MHz of spectrum worth 963.17 billion Indian rupees ($11.65 billion) will be put up for sale when the auction kicks off.

The base price has increased from nine to 12 percent per unit since the last auction two years ago.

In the upcoming auction, 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 will be up for grabs.

Operators have until April 22 to submit bids for the spectrum.

Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio have both launched 5G services across large parts of the country, while cash-strapped Vodafone Idea (Vi) is still waiting to launch 5G.

Vi said it expects to launch 5G in the next few months. Mavenir Telecom said it expects to sign a contract with Vi for the deployment of its 5G network this year.

Jio spent $11 billion on spectrum in the 900MHz, 3,500MHz, and 26GHz bands back in 2022, while Airtel spent $5.4bn during the same auction on spectrum in the 900MHz, 1,800MHz, 2,100MHz, 3,300MHz, and 26GHz bands.

Vi received spectrum worth $2.4 billion, while Adani purchased spectrum worth approximately $27 million.