The Ministry of Communications and IT has rejected Vodafone Group Plc’s request to put an additional 15 MHz of 3G spectrum currently being held by defence forces up for sale in the spectrum auction scheduled in March 2015.

According to the ministry, the government cannot put up for sale the resources that it does not hold. The Vodafone has also raised concerns over the high base price of Rs 37.05 billion per MHz for the 3G spectrum to be auctioned in March 2015. The operator stated that while world over the base price of spectrum was falling, in India base price for spectrum continues to be high. Further, the operator stated that high spectrum prices will leave operators with limited resources to invest in infrastructure, leading to poor networks across the country.

To this extent, the ministry has stated that the government cannot fix the reserve price of spectrum at a lower value than what was realised in the 2010 auctions. In the 2010 spectrum auctions, the government had set a reserve price of Rs 7 billion per MHz for 3G spectrum and realised a final price of Rs 35 billion per MHz.