Vodafone India and Reliance Communications (RCom) will not be bidding for spectrum in several service areas in India’s upcoming spectrum auction.
The sale, which comprises frequencies in the 1,800 MHZ and 900 MHz bands, is set to begin on 3…
Vodafone India and Reliance Communications (RCom) will not be bidding for spectrum in several service areas in India’s upcoming spectrum auction.
The sale, which comprises frequencies in the 1,800 MHZ and 900 MHz bands, is set to begin on 3 February.
According to the Department of Telecoms’ shortlist of auction applicants, Vodafone and RCom appear alongside six other local mobile operators: Bharti Airtel, Aircel, Idea Cellular, Tata Teleservices, Reliance Jio Infocomm and Uninor, which are eligible to bid in all 22 areas, also known as circles.
However the document shows Vodafone will not be bidding in seven circles while RCom is not eligible to bid in eight circles.
According to local newspaper the Economic Times citing sources close to the matter, the telecoms ministry has not found Vodafone’s application documents for the seven areas while RCom did not submit documents for the eight areas.
Vodafone, RCom and the telecoms department were not immediately available for comments.
India is reportedly looking to raise at least Rs113bn (US$1.84bn) from the auction process. The government last held spectrum auctions in March 2013, which failed to generate much interest after operators complained prices were too high. Eventually, the sole bidder MTS India was awarded spectrum in the 800 MHz band.
