India's Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has approached the Supreme Court seeking that its 18 January deadline for shutting down mobile networks be extended until the next spectrum auction, offering a lifeline to the Indian operators whose licences were canceled a year ago by the court, reports The Economic Times. Under the court's earlier directive, all mobile operators whose permits were quashed in February were mandated to shut down their networks by 18 January, unless they had obtained airwaves and new licences in the recently concluded spectrum auction. If the court approves an extension, operators such as as MTS India, Tata Teleservices, Uninor and Videocon can continue operations in areas where they failed to win airwaves in the November auctions. The DoT told the court that it plans to hold another round of auctions beginning 11 March, where GSM airwaves in the 1800 MHz and 900 MHz as well as CDMA spectrum in the 800 MHz will be sold. The DoT also said that if the apex court were to extend the permits of mobile operators, the government will issue temporary licenses to such operators.
