Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), the industry body supporting GSM operators has opposed CDMA players demand to lower reserve price for spectrum to be auctioned in the 800 MHz band.

In a written request to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), COAI has stated that the reserve price recommended by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) for the spectrum to be auctioned in the 800 MHz band was significantly lower than the prices realised for the spectrum auctioned in the 900 MHz band in February 2014.

Earlier, in February 2014, the regulatory body had suggested Rs 26.85 billion as the base price for a MHz of pan-India CDMA spectrum. In its communication, COAI has claimed that the suggested base prices for 800 MHz spectrum in the Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata circles were effectively 39 per cent, 37 per cent and 48 per cent lower than the winning bids for spectrum in the 900 MHz band in the recently concluded spectrum auctions.

Further, COAI has suggested that in case DoT is able to make 5 MHz of contiguous spectrum available in blocks of 1.25 MHz within the 800 MHz band, then the department need not lower the reserve price for the spectrum to be auctioned. The industry body has claimed that since contiguous spectrum is more efficient and can be used for delivering data services based on 4G long-term evolution technology, CDMA operators should not be provided spectrum at lower prices.