India’s 5G auction underway; PhonePe seeking $12 bln valuation; Google warns of uncertainty ahead

The auction for the 5G spectrum got underway yesterday in India and the government received bids worth $18 billion on the first day from conglomerates including the Reliance Group and Adani Group, TechCrunch reports. PhonePe, one of the largest fintech businesses in India, is seeking a massive valuation ahead of its separation from parent Flipkart, ET reports. And Google’s parent Alphabet missed earnings estimates yesterday and warned of uncertainty ahead. Notes: The auction for the 5G spectrum got underway yesterday in India and the government received bids worth $18 billion on the first day from conglomerates including the Reliance Group and Adani Group, TechCrunch reports. Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw told reporters on Tuesday evening that bids went “far beyond our expectations” and “it looks like [the bidding level] will be at the same level” on Wednesday, according to TechCrunch. The high-speed networks are set to begin rolling out in September and “by the end of the year, residents of several Indian cities will be able to experience 5G,” the minister added. PhonePe is seeking a valuation of more than $12 billion in new funding talks, Economic Times reports. That compares with its private valuation of $5.5 billion in 2020, when Walmart invested $700 million in the fintech company, according to ET. The talks are at an early stage, while PhonePe moves forward with its ongoing separation from parent Flipkart that will allow it to eventually list on the Indian stock exchanges, according to ET. PhonePe, founded by former Flipkart executives Sameer Nigam and Rahul Chari in 2015, was acquired by Flipkart the following year, which in turn was bought by the US retail giant Walmart. PhonePe is in the process of dissolving its Singapore holding company and moving to India, according to ET. Google’s parent Alphabet, yesterday, reported weaker-than-expected earnings and revenue for the second quarter, CNBC reports. Revenue growth slowed to 13 percent in the three months that ended June 30, from 62 percent a year earlier when the company was benefiting from the post-pandemic reopening and consumer spending was on the rise, according to CNBC. Currency fluctuations from a strengthening dollar knocked 3.7 percentage points off revenue growth, CFO Ruth Porat told CNBC. Porat said the strength of the dollar will hit next quarter’s results even harder. The CFO also characterized the current outlook as one of “uncertainty in the global economic environment.” Advertising revenue increased 12 percent to $56.3 billion, as marketers cut spending. The most notable slowdown was in the YouTube division, where sales rose 5 percent compared with 84 percent in the same period a year ago, CNBC notes. CEO Sundar Pichai said in a press release that growth was driven by search and Google Cloud. The enterprise cloud business, while still loss-making, rose 35.6 percent in the June quarter to become a $25 billion business on an annual basis. Theme music courtesy Free Music & Sounds: https://soundcloud.com/freemusicandsounds