India's Supreme Court has rejected a last-minute appeal from the country's largest mobile operators to stay the spectrum auction set to start on 03 February. Operators Bharti Airtel and Vodafone India had been lobbying for an extension of their existing licences in the 900MHz band in major cities, which are set to expire in November. Instead, they will have to participate in the auction to hold on to the frequencies.
The court said the operators do not have a monopoly on the spectrum and cannot expect to hold on to it when their licences expire after 20 years, the Financial Express reported. The court heard their appeal of an earlier ruling by the telecom tribunal TDSAT, which had refused the operators reqest for a licence extension at a "fair market price". The government argued that such a deal would scare off other potential bidders in the auction. A total eight existing operators are expected to participate in the auction for frequencies in the 1,800 and 900 MHz bands.
