India's 2015 spectrum auction concluded on March 25, after 19 days and 115 rounds of bidding. Several participating operators have issued statements reacting to this and stating their plans on how they intend to use the spectrum: Bharti Airtel Bharti Airtel says that now it will be able to offer pan India 4G services using a combination of FD-LTE technology in the 1800 MHz band and TD-LTE roll out in the 2300 MHz band. It will also be able to offer 3G across all markets with the exception of Kerala using a combination of 900 MHz and 2100 MHz. Gopal Vittal, MD & CEO – India & South Asia, Bharti Airtel said that the auction design and the scarcity of spectrum have resulted in exorbitant bids to secure the spectrum, particularly in renewal circles, where huge investments have already been made on the assurance of a continuity of business enshrined in the licenses issued by the DoT. We hope that in future auctions, the Government will make available adequate spectrum by securing it from agencies and operators who are underutilising this vital resource. Bharti Airtel has acquired 111.6 MHz of spectrum across 900 MHz, 1800 MHz and 2100 MHz bands for a total consideration of Rs 29,130 crore in the just concluded spectrum auction. Of this, Rs 17,618 crore has been spent on renewal of existing spectrum, while the remaining Rs 11,512 crore has been spent on procuring new spectrum. The company mentioned that it has successfully renewed all its spectrum holdings in the 900…
