Auction riches to remain pipe dream as telcos keep distance
1,800 MHz. Here, auctions were slated to take place in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata circles. While the licences of Bharti is up for renewal in November this year in Delhi and Kolkata, Vodafone needs to renew for Delhi and Mumbai. These two companies have spectrum in the 900 MHz band in these circles and the government’s plan was that they can retain 2.5 MHz of their total spectrum and participate in auctions to win back another 2.5 MHz. In the 1,800 MHz band, the plan was that the entire spectrum held by the companies would be put up for auction and they would have to win it back.
Though Sistema Shyam has come forward to take spectrum in the 800 MHz CDMA band, it would not mean anything to the government in terms of revenue as other CDMA players like Reliance Communications and Tata Teleservices have not evinced interest in auctions in this band. There were no takers for spectrum in this band in the November auctions also, which forced the government to later reduce the reserve price by 50%. Thus, a company like Sistema can procure spectrum at around Rs 2,900 crore against Rs 1,651 crore it paid in 2008.
Missed call
* Not a single GSM operator applied to participate in the auction of spectrum in the 900 and 1,800 MHz bands
* Sistema Shyam, whose 21 licences were cancelled by SC, was the lone applicant for spectrum in 800 MHz
* Govt to explore all options to see how spectrum can be
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