NEW DELHI (Reuters) - The cabinet has approved telecoms spectrum trading by mobile operators, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Wednesday, a move aimed at improving services in the world's second-biggest market by number of mobile customers.
Under the guidelines, mobile carriers can buy or lend unused airwaves from rivals, making it potentially easier for companies like Bharti Airtel and Vodafone India to meet surging demand in the country's phone and data usage.
The number of smartphone users in India stood at around 140 million in 2014. It is expected to reach 651 million by 2019, according to a study by Cisco.
(Reporting by Nivedita Bhattacharjee and Malini Menon; Editing by Sunil Nair)
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