DoT ready for final allocation of airwaves

The Department of Telelcom is expected to finally assign 2G spectrum to mobile service providers which won the radiowaves in the February auction.
The final allocation is expected within a week as process of swapping of frequencies between operators has been completed.
"Telecom companies had requested to swap spectrum frequencies won by them in 1,800 Mhz band so that they can easily provide LTE (4G) services. Frequencies have been swapped and LoI will be sent out as soon as higher authorities approve it," an official source told PTI.
Five out of seven companies-- Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Reliance Jio Infocomm, Idea Cellular and Telewings (Uninor)-- have requested for swapping of frequencies.

Airtel's spectrum frequencies in Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka and Punjab have been rearranged, Vodafone's frequencies in Haryana, Kolkata, Punjab and UP East are rearranged, Idea Cellular in Punjab, Reliance Jio Infocomm in Kolkata and North East and Telewings (Uninor) in UP East and West.
Idea Cellular had sought to change frequencies in Kerala and Vodafone in Delhi with Reliance Jio Infocomm, which did not agree to the proposal due to some technical issues.

The government had received bids worth Rs 37,572.6 crore for 1800 Mhz, widely known as 2G spectrum, in last auctions.
Airtel has won 1800 Mhz spectrum in 15 out of 22 service area for 9,906.02 crore, Vodafone and Idea in 11 service area for Rs 8,383.52 crore and Rs 7,010.83 crore, Reliance Jio in 14 circles for Rs 11,054.41 crore and Telewings Communications in 5 circles for Rs 844.72 crore.

Other winners include Reliance Communications and Aircel, which won spectrum in one and 5 service areas, respectively.