The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has extended the validity of Bharti Airtel?s and Vodafone India?s licence for the Delhi circle till January 14, 2015. DoT has also permitted the two operators to continue to offer services in the Mumbai and Kolkata circles till December 15, 2014 under their current licences, which had expired on November 20, 2014. DoT will now seek approval from the Telecom Commission regarding its decision to grant extension to the telecom operators.
Though both the operators had acquired fresh spectrum in February 2014, they have sought additional time to adjust their mobile network to the new frequency slots allotted to them in the auction. Meanwhile, Idea Cellular has agreed to allow Airtel and Vodafone to use its spectrum till January 14, 2015 as the 5 MHz of spectrum won by Idea includes 3 MHz of spectrum that has been used by Vodafone and 2 MHz by Airtel.
