A day after the Supreme Court served notices to telecom firms on the issue of additional spectrum, Bharti Airtel on Tuesday said it does not hold any excess radio waves and these were allotted to it as per the rules.
“All the spectrum given to us was completely as per rules, so there is nothing like excess spectrum,” Bharti Enterprises’ Deputy Group Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director Akhil Gupta told reporters on the sidelines of a FICCI event here.
The Supreme Court, had on Monday, issued notices to the Centre and seven operators, including Bharti Airtel and Vodafone, for cancellation of 2G spectrum beyond 2x4.5 MHz in metros and 2x4.4 MHz in other circles allocated to these firms without additional fees.
ADVERTISEMENT
On whether the Supreme Court’s order cancelling 122 2G licences could also impact licences allotted to companies before 2008, he said, “As far as I know, the Supreme Court verdict only talks about 122 licences.”
Mr. Gupta said the company is yet to decide on participating in the auction for 2G airwaves.
“I can’t comment because we have to see what are the rules, what is the reserve price. We would obviously keep the options open but there is no decision from our side,” he said.
ADVERTISEMENT
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) plans to start auction of 2G airwaves by December 20 and allocate spectrum to players in March next year.
Bharti Airtel is of the view that it will not gain much in terms of subscriber additions as most new operators did not have many subscribers.
“They (new operators) don’t have that kind of base that it would be a boon for anyone,” Mr. Gupta said.
Recently, new entrant Etisalat had advised its users to switch to other operators as the company was planning to shut down its operations in the country.
Shares of the company closed on Tuesday at Rs 338.90 a piece, almost unchanged from its previous close on the BSE.