The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) might accept the proposal of Bharti Airtel and Vodafone India to grant extention on their licences for the Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai circles. The telecom department will then charge a notional price in return for the extension of licences. For this, it might ask the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India to calculate a notional price for the spectrum held by these telecom operators.

In this regard, DoT is reportedly working with the other associated agencies to frame out a solution keeping in mind the National Telecom Policy (NTP).

Earlier, the two operators had requested DoT to allow for more time to re-configure their networks to the new airwaves that were recently allotted to the operators.

Bharti Airtel has spectrum in the 900 MHz band in Delhi and Kolkata circles which are nearing expiry in November 2014. Vodafone India’s licence in the 900 MHz band in the circles of Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata will also expire at the same time. Both the operators had therefore asked for more time to assess the total load in the circles in question.