Videocon pulls out of CDMA spectrum auction

Telecom operator Videocon is believed to have withdrawn its application for bidding of airwaves in the 800 Mhz band which is used for CDMA operations.

"Videocon has applied for participating in auction of 1800 Mhz and 800 Mhz band but it has withdrawn application submitted for 800 Mhz band," government sources told PTI.

This information, however, could not be independently verified with Videocon. Repeated attempts to reach the company spokesperson bore no fruit.

Videocon's licences were among those cancelled by Supreme Court in February. Companies which lost their licences are required to buy spectrum through auction as per Supreme Court order if they wish to continue to remain in telecom business.

The auction for spectrum 800 Mhz band is slated to begin two days after the winners of 1800 Mhz band auction are declared.

In 800 Mhz band, there is a shortage of spectrum and the government will auction 3 blocks 1.25 MHz each in 19 telecom circles.

At the reserve price, each block of 800 Mhz band will cost Rs 4,550 crore which is 1.3 times of the price of airwaves frequencies in 1800 Mhz band, used for providing GSM services.