Airtel, Vodafone & Idea want part of CDMA spectrum for GSM tech

"We recommend that the 800 MHz spectrum band is harmonised with the international band plan to become part of an "extended" 900 MHz band; this will increase the availability of spectrum in the 900 MHz band by up to 10 MHz (or over 40 per cent)," said a letter written by the three companies to DoT.

The letter is signed by Bharti Airtel CEO (India and South Asia) Sanjay Kapoor, Idea Cellular Managing Director Himanshu Kapania and Vodafone India MD and CEO Marten Pieters.

At present, airwaves frequencies in 900 Mhz band are used for transmitting signals for GSM mobile services.

The reach of signals transmitted in 900 Mhz band is around two-times more than that transmitted in 1,800 Mhz band, for which the government had fixed a base price of Rs 14,000 crore for 5 mhz pan-India spectrum in the recent auction.

Telecom operators prefer 900 Mhz band as they need to deploy less telecom towers compared to that in 1800 Mhz band.

The CDMA spectrum provides more coverage than 900 Mhz band but business eco-system for CDMA business is not well developed compared to GSM services.

The three GSM operators have demanded to earmark airwaves frequencies from 880 Mhz onward for GSM players instead of current practice of allocating it from 890 Mhz onward.

"With the diminishing interest of operators in CDMA and the reducing subscriber base of the technology, we believe that

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