By IANS,
New Delhi : Vodafone India has urged the government to immediately allocate the spectrum that it won in November 2012 auction, alleging that the airwaves were being used by the operators whose licences were cancelled on the Supreme Court’s directive.
In a letter to the department of telecom (DoT), released to media Sunday, Vodafone India said that there was an undue delay in allocation of spectrum.
The India unit of the British telecom giant Vodafone had participated in the 1800 MHz auctions held in November 2012 and acquired spectrum in 14 service areas at an auction price of Rs.1,127.94 crore.
As per the guidelines, the company made a payment of Rs.372.22 crore under the deferred payment option route Nov 22, 2012 for the spectrum it had secured.
In the letter dated Jan 29, Vodafone India has alleged that despite the payments made, spectrum has not been physically allocated.
“The reason for the delay in the allotment of spectrum is on account of the fact that it is still being used by operators whose licenses were cancelled vie the Supreme Court judgment dated Feb 2, 2012,” it said.
“For instance operators like Idea, Videocon, Uninor are on the same frequency band in circles like Assam, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir and Odisha which were awarded to Vodafone in the auctions held in November 2012,” the company said in the letter.
Vodafone India has requested the department of telecom that “in context of the pending allocation of spectrum and continued use of spectrum by other license operators, DoT may immediately clarify and confirm that the period of 20 years for which the right to use the spectrum has been acquired by the licensee through this auction will be reckoned from the date of actual allotment of the said spectrum”.