Videocon Telecom has dropped its plans to acquire spectrum for 900 Mhz for Delhi and additional 2Mhz spectrum each in Punjab and MP circles on the 1800 Mhz band.
“Worldwide the 4G LTE ecosystem is not that evolved in the 900 Mhz space, that makes the cost of deployment very expensive, thus making 900 not suitable for 4G. We feel that the 4G ecosystem in 900 Mhz band should evolve in the coming years and that should be the time we will look at options,” said Arvind Bali, CEO and director of Videocon Telecom.
Regarding its earlier plan to bid for additional 2Mhz spectrum in Punjab and MP circles, the telecom operator clarified that 25 out of 92 blocks are not available in Ludhiana and Amritsar in the Punjab circle.
“We are facing a little congestion in Ludhiana and Amritsar, so we’d rather deploy more sites than acquiring spectrum. So it doesn’t make any sense for us to bid here,” Bali added.
Videocon Telecom will be investing funds for roll out services in UPE, UPW and Bihar Telecom circles where we already have airwaves.
Bali and his team are in China to prepare a final roadmap for roll outs.
Meanwhile, Vodafone, Airtel, Idea Cellular, Reliance Jio Infocomm and Reliance Communications have applied for participating in the spectrum auction.
