Sistema's India unit only applicant for March airwaves auction

New Delhi (Reuters) - Russian conglomerate Sistema's Indian mobile phone unit is the only company that has applied to bid in an airwaves auction due next month, a senior government official said on Monday.

Earlier, Sistema Shyam TeleServices Ltd had said it had applied to participate in the sale of spectrum in the 800 megahertz band, used by carriers operating on the CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) platform.

India is planning to sell airwaves worth at least 430 billion rupees in three frequency bands in the auction due to start March 11. The sale is seen as crucial to helping the Indian government cut it fiscal deficit.

 

($1 = 54.2000 rupees)

(Reporting By Devidutta Tripathy; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)