Auction failed due to bigger block sizes: Vodafone

Telco urges Trai to auction spectrum in 200KHz lot sizes

The Government’s decision to auction spectrum with allocation blocks of 1.25MHz each was one of the key reasons for the failure of the auction in November 2012, the country’s second largest telecom service provider Vodafone has said in a letter to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai).

In its letter, Vodafone has also stated that Trai sort out the issue of lack of alignment between spectrum allocations and charging norms, ensuring that wastage of spectrum is reduced.

“Change of allocation block size from the earlier 200KHz to the 1.25MHz in 1800MHz band in the November auction has resulted in a situation where spectrum is both unwillingly wasted by operators and unintentionally left idle by the Government,” Vodafone has said in a statement, referring to its letter to Trai, today.

Vodafone also added that there are compelling reasons to review the block size of 1.25MHz and revert to the allocation of spectrum in carrier blocks of 200KHz, which can be used for GSM, WCDMA and LTE networks.

According to the Vodafone statement, this will not complicate the auction in any way but eliminate the said wastage and create a level-playing field in the industry in this regard.

The block size of 1.25 MHz is out of alignment with the current SUC slabs, which were formulated on the basis of a block size of 200 KHz for 900 MHz and 1800 MHz bands, said Vodafone.

Due to lack of alignment between spectrum allocation and charging approach, operators or licensees who acquired spectrum in the November 2012 auctions have ended up paying higher spectrum usage charges compared to competitors, it added.