Vodafone India on Thursday filed an application with the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) for extending its telecom permits in the three circles of Kolkata, Delhi and Mumbai. Its permits in these circles will expire in November 2014.
According to the telecom policy, Vodafone will have to participate in upcoming auctions for both 900 MHz (Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata) and 1800 Mhz (Delhi and Mumbai) for whatever amount of spectrum it wishes to retain in the three circles.
So, among the options available to it, the company can either buy its current holding pattern, which is a mix of spectrum in 900 Mhz and 1800 Mhz, or it can substitute its current holding of spectrum in the 900 Mhz band with that in 1800 Mhz.
Recently, the government allowed incumbent operators to retain 2.5 Mhz of spectrum in the more efficient frequency band of 900 Mhz.
