The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has allotted the frequencies airwaves in the 1800 MHz band to the telecom operators who won the spectrum in the February 2014 auctions. This comes after the two operators, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone India along with the Cellular Operators Association of India had asked DoT to speed up the process of spectrum allocation.

Consequently, Bharti Airtel has been allotted frequency airwaves in the 1800 MHz band in all 15 circles, where it won spectrum in February 2014. Although the operator is still waiting for allocation of spectrum in the 900 MHz band secured in Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai circles. The allocation of spectrum in the 1800 MHz band has also been made to Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited in 14 circles and Uninor in the Assam circle.Further, Vodafone India has also been reportedly allocated its full quota of spectrum in the 1800 MHz band in all nine circles, along with a portion of airwaves in the its 900 MHz band. However, Idea Cellular has only received some spectrum in 1800 MHz band while the operator is waiting to get its 5 MHz block of spectrum in the 900 MHz band in the Delhi circle.

However, DoT has not commented on the request for extension of the expiry of licences of Bharti Airtel and Vodafone India in the circles of Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata due to the delay in spectrum allocation.