Cannot afford spectrum in 700 MHz band: Airtel

The spectrum reserve price for the upcoming auction is likely to happen in May-June this year

Bharti Airtel, the country’s largest telecom operator, has said it cannot afford to buy spectrum in the 700 MHz band.

The company wants to fill gaps in its spectrum holdings in the 2,100 MHz and 2,300 MHz bands, but expressed concern on the high reserve price of 700 MHz band suggested by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai).

“The 700 MHz is a valuable band. It has great propagational characteristics but the ecosystem is still nascent. The reserve price for it is expensive. We cannot afford to buy at that price,” Gopal Vittal, managing director and chief executive officer, India and South Asia, Bharti Airtel, told analysts in a conference call.

Vittal said the company welcomed the Trai’s recommendations on the 2,100 MHz band and on carrier aggregation, which would improve quality of service in circles where it was constrained by spectrum. “This will be a relief to congested networks and help in improving the call drop situation,” he said.

Bharti Airtel will seek spectrum in the 2,300 MHz band to deploy 4G cellular services because it does not have this frequency in many circles. The company has experience in managing spectrum in the 2,300 MHz band and it intends to plug gaps in eight circles where it does not have this frequency. Trai had on Wednesday recommended spectrum reserve prices for upcoming auctions in May-June for the 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1,800 MHz, 2,100 MHz, 2,300 MHz and 2,500 MHz bands.

Air waves in the 700 MHz band, which will be auctioned for the first time in the upcoming auction, is sought by 4G networks for its efficiency. The cost of delivering cellular services in the 700 MHz band is 70 per cent cheaper than in the 2,100 MHz band.  The government last year earned Rs 1.1 lakh crore from spectrum auctions and experts said it could gather Rs 5.5-6 lakh crore this year.