Reliance Communications (RCOM) is planning to enter into intra-circle roaming (ICR) agreements to continue providing its 2G service in Bihar, West Bengal and Assam circles. This comes after the company was unable to buy back spectrum in the 900 MHz band in these circles while its 2G license expires in December 2015.
Presently, RCOM has ICR agreements with Tata Teleservices and Aircel to offer 2G GSM services to in these three circles. It has also approached the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited, Vodafone and Idea Cellular for an agreement. The company is also considering the option of buying spectrum under the spectrum trading guidelines to support services in these three circles.
In the March 2015 auctions, the company was unable to acquire spectrum in the 900 MHz band in the West Bengal, Bihar, Assam, Odisha and the North-East circles. Although it was able to buy spectrum in the 1800 MHz band in Odisha and the North-East circles, it would require almost double the amount of spectrum to provide coverage to its existing 2G GSM customers.
