Vodafone criticizes govt. for not handing over November auction’s spectrum
Telecom company criticizes government for letting telcos with cancelled licenses to continue operations.
Vodafone India has written a letter to the Department of Telecom (DoT) saying that it has yet to receive spectrum that it won in the auctions held in November of last year. The letter points out that the telcos whose licenses had been scrapped in February 2012 were still continuing operations and that the government was profiting by asking Vodafone to pay for the newly won licenses, while also getting payment from telcos such as Idea, Videocon and Uninor for spectrum that had already been cancelled.
A report by The Economic Times notes that Vodafone won spectrum in 14 service areas for Rs. 1,128 crores, in the November auctions, and have already paid Rs. 372 crores as part of a deferred payment system introduced for the auctions. The DoT had stated that the telcos whose licenses had been cancelled could continue operations beyond December 19 2012, while the new winners set up their networks. Vodafone further criticizes the DoT for starting the countdown on the 20 year lease on the spectrum even though the company has yet to be allotted any spectrum.
Telenor (the company behind Uninor) had also shot off a letter to the DoT in January criticizing the government for setting up high base prices in the upcoming GSM auctions to held in March. Telenor had warned in the letter that high prices would ensure a similar outcome as the November auctions, when there were no bids for licenses in popular circles such as Karnataka, Delhi, Mumbai and Rajasthan, on account of high prices.
Source: The Economic Times