Private networks are becoming an important revenue generator for mobile operators in India, even more than elsewhere, in a country stuck with chronically low ARPUs. This is even more true than ever now as the country’s 5G infrastructure deployment gets underway following the spectrum auctions completed in early August 2022. That is why the operators have been lobbying hard to prevent enterprises being granted their own spectrum after regulator TRAI had proposed allowing them to set up their own private 5G networks. That was shortly before the auction and prompted mobile operators to argue this could seriously jeopardize their 5G business case given the amount they would have to spend on 5G spectrum, as they did. The government though was…