MTNL offers to return CDMA spectrum for auction-derived price

State-run MTNL has informed the Department of Telecom that it is ready to return the entire CDMA spectrum it currently holds if the telecom operator is paid auction-determined price.
"MTNL has offered to surrender entire 800 Mhz band spectrum but it wants an auction-determined price for the surrendered frequencies," a government official told PTI.
As per TRAI recommended price, the value of CDMA spectrum held by MTNL amounts to about Rs 1,937 crore.
MTNL operates in Delhi and Mumbai where it has 1.28 lakh subscribers using its CDMA service. Its total subscriber base stands at about 34 lakh.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has also recommended that DoT should take back entire CDMA spectrum of MTNL and put it up for auction.

However, the state-run firm had earlier declined to surrender CDMA frequencies citing that it may use these airwaves for deploying 4G services.
Surrendering of CDMA spectrum by MTNL will lead to availability of 4 slots of 1.25 Mhz each in 800 Mhz band frequencies in Delhi and 7 in Mumbai.