Telecom operators, including Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Idea Cellular, Telenor and Tata Teleservices (TTSL), on Friday, submitted applications for participating in the spectrum auction, starting November 12.
Sources at the Department of Telecommunications confirmed that Bharti Airtel had submitted the application to bid for airwaves frequencies at the pan-India level.
Sources at Bharti Airtel, Idea and Vodafone confirmed that companies had filed applications but did not disclose details such as the number of telecom circles in which they would bid for airwaves frequencies and the spectrum band in which they would bid.
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is conducting auction of airwaves frequencies in 1800 Mhz, being used for GSM services at present, and 800 Mhz band, being used for CDMA services, after the Supreme Court cancelled 122 telecom licences of eight companies in the 2G scam.
DoT sources confirmed that Videocon and Telenor, whose Indian joint venture Uninor lost the licence, had also submitted application but no immediate comments could be obtained from the company. The cancelled licences included 22 permits of Uninor , Loop 21, Sistema-Shyam 21, Etisalat-DB 15, S Tel 6, Videocon 21, Idea 9 and three licences of TTSL.
Official sources confirmed that TTSL submitted application to bid in three telecom circles where it lost its CDMA permits.
The status of the application from SSTL, which runs services under the MTS brand, could not be ascertained.
The apex court has asked the government to complete spectrum by January 11, 2013, and warned that failure to meet the deadline would invite “contempt” action against erring officials with “exemplary” cost.
