Reliance Jio and Airtel seek fair spectrum surrender policy

Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel are urging the government to create a level-playing field while framing the new spectrum surrender policy instead of one that benefits a single telecom operator, said people aware of the details.

India's top two telcos expressed their views during a recent meeting with Department of Telecommunications (DoT) officials to discuss the proposal of surrendering spectrum acquired before 2022.

While the spectrum surrender policy, if approved, will be applicable to all telcos, Vodafone Idea (Vi) stands to benefit the most as it can return a significant quantum of airwaves and reduce its annual instalments.


Jio doesn't have much excess airwaves and has also cleared ahead of time most of its payments for past spectrum purchases. Airtel, though, has some excess airwaves in bands like 2100 MHz in a few circles that can be returned. The Sunil Mittal-led telco too has been making advance payments for most of its previous bandwidth purchases.

"Surrender of spectrum is absolutely the right way forward because you are sitting with a scarce resource and if you are not using it, it should be surrendered and the same can be auctioned. We have been supportive of that," said an executive at one of the telcos cited above.

However, the policy should be such that it benefits all the players equally and not one firm, Jio and Airtel executives told DoT officials at the meeting, the people said.

All the telcos obtained spectrum through auctions, paying the same market price but opting for varied payment options. "Since allowing surrender of spectrum before 2022 auctions would be termed as amending the notice inviting application (NIA), the changes should be done in a way that is fine with all telcos," another executive said.

Jio, Airtel and Vi did not respond to queries.

ET reported on February 26 about DoT's plan to consider surrender of spectrum acquired in auctions before 2022. The move will allow Vi to save an estimated around Rs 40,000 crore. The actual savings will, however, depend on the quantum of spectrum the company plans to surrender.

Vi's dues to the government from spectrum purchases amount to ₹1.57 lakh crore, most of it for airwaves acquired before 2022. The telco has 8,030 MHz of spectrum across several bands and says it has the most airwaves per million subscribers in the industry.

The latest proposal is part of measures the government has taken or is considering to underline its intent of ensuring a competitive telecom sector with three healthy competitors-Jio, Airtel and Vodafone Idea-along with state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd.