Vodafone India 2013 News extend its 900 megahertz (MHz) operating licenses for Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata

Vodafone India 2013  |Invoking a clause of the license agreement, Vodafone India is all set to extend its 900 megahertz (MHz) operating licenses for Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata telecom zones.

According to reports, the telco took this decision despits despite the Indian government earlier approving the proposal to re-auction the licenses after the existing ones expire in November 2014. The company is looking to extend its operating licenses by another 10 years.

A news daily reported that "the telco had invoked clause 4.1 of the license agreement, which states the government can extend the period of license by 10 years at one time if the request is made by the operator during the 19th year of the license period."

However, the licensor's decision on the matter "shall be final in regard to the grant of extension", which would indicate that Vodafone is at the will of the Indian government, the report said.

Earlier, the government had announced to re-auction the 900MHz operating licenses once the band becomes available again. The date, however, is yet to revealed. Operators may still hold 2.5MHz of spectrum in each telecom zone they had previously been operating in after paying a market-determined price, while the rest will be put to sale, the repport said.

Last month, Vodafone India said that the government needs to create a level playing field between private operators and state run entities BSNL and MTNL regarding the onetime spectrum fees.

"BSNL and MTNL have a lot of spectrum and they don't use it very efficiently. Also, if I have to pay thousands of crores in spectrum fee while the competitor doesn't, to me that's not level playing field. There have to be same rules," Vodafone India managing director and chief executive officer Marten Pieters had told reporters.

Though Pieters declined to make specific comments on the 2G auction, he said that driven by the outcome of the auction and licence extension, there will be a lot of clarity in the regulatory environment going forward.

"In the last few months, we have seen a lot of decisions being made by the government, which is good. But a lot more needs to be done," he added.


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