Telecom Lead Asia: Vodafone on Friday expressed concerns on the rejection of extension of its licenses in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata service areas.
The mobile operator shared its concerns in the wake of the telecom department rejecting its request for extending its licenses in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata service areas.
The development will add pressure on Capex (capital expenditure) plan of the mobile operator.
“Vodafone is deeply disappointed with the summary rejection of its request for extension of its licenses in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata service areas by DoT. This decision is against the interests of our several million customers in these cities/circles,” said Vodafone in a statement.
Vodafone — which has invested more than Rs 50,000 crore in India — said there appears to be no acknowledgment by DoT of the full and faithful operation of the license for 18 years. “Vodafone has also been consistently contributing several crores in revenues to the national exchequer. Clearly, in DoT’s opinion, these aspects are not important for determining expediency,” the statement added.
Last month, Vodafone had moved the High Court against 900 MHz spectrum auction.
Vodafone had said it filed a petition in the Delhi HC challenging DoT’s action of putting its 900MHz spectrum to auction.
Vodafone felt it is entitled to a fair and reasonable extension of its license as per mutually agreeable terms. Both the policy and license provide for continuity and this action of DoT to arbitrarily withdraw the 900MHz spectrum is against the provisions of policy and license.
Vodafone — which has around 150 million customers — earlier said the 900MHz spectrum forms the foundation of the network. Using the spectrum, Vodafone is providing services to over 18.7 million subscribers.
As per Vodafone both the policy and license provide for continuity and this action of DoT to arbitrarily withdraw the 900MHz spectrum is not only against the provisions of policy and license but also disruptive and against public interest.
