Gautam Adani’s group is said to be planning a surprise entry into the race to acquire telecom spectrum, which will pitch it directly against Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio and telecom czar Sunil Bharti Mittal’s Airtel, sources said.

Applications for participating in the July 26 auction of airwaves, including those capable of providing fifth-generation or 5G telecom services such as ultra-high-speed internet connectivity, closed on Friday with at least four applications.

Jio, Airtel and Vodafone Idea — the three private players in the telecom sector — applied, three sources with knowledge of the matter said.

The fourth applicant is Adani Group, one of the sources said, adding that the group had recently obtained National Long Distance (NLD) and International Long Distance (ILD) licences.

However, this could not be independently confirmed. Email and phone calls made to Adani Group did not elicit any response

According to the auction timelines, ownership details of applicants are to be published on July 12 and the bidders should be known then.

A total of 72,097.85 MHz of spectrum worth at least Rs 4.3 lakh crore will be put on the block during the auction, set to commence on July 26.

The auction will be held for spectrum in various low (600 MHz, 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz), mid (3300 MHz) and high (26 GHz) frequency bands.