Eight telecom operators have submitted their applications to participate in the bidding process for spectrum acquisition in the auctions scheduled for March 2015. The operators who have applied for the auctions are Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India, Idea Cellular, Reliance Communications (RCOM), Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited, Uninor, Aircel and Tata Teleservices Limited.
However, Sistema Shyam Teleservices Limited has opted out of the bidding process citing high reserve price of the spectrum in the 800 MHz band and legal issue with the telecom department as the major reasons. Also, Videocon Telecom did not submit its application for the upcoming auctions.
Majority of the spectrum that will be put up for sale is presently held by Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India, Idea Cellular and Reliance Telecom, a subsidiary of RCOM. Their licences for the spectrum in various circles are set to expire in 2015-16 and therefore, it is a necessary for these companies to reacquire spectrum in the auctions in order to continue their services in such circles.
In the auctions, the government will sell 103.75 MHz of spectrum in the 800 MHz band, 177.8 MHz in the 900 MHz and 99.2 MHz in the 1800 MHz band along with 5 MHz of spectrum in the 2100 MHz band.
