NEW DELHI, Nov 25:
Telecom major Tata Teleservices (TTSL) will shut down its operations in Jammu & Kashmir, North-East and Assam circles from January 18 as it does not have spectrum to operate in these areas.
TTSL’s three circles of J&K, North-East and Assam were among the 122 telecom permits that the Supreme Court cancelled in February this year.
The company, which has around 3.2 lakh subscribers in the three circles, however, did not bid for buying spectrum in these areas in this month’s auction as it found the price too high.
“TTSL will close down its operations in these three circles with effect from January 18, 2013 and has begun to take the necessary measures with respect to its employees, customers and business partners in these circles,” the company said in an e-mailed response.
Its customers will now have to switch to other operators.
TTSL said announcements regarding specific steps being taken will be made in due course.
The three CDMA licences of TTSL in Jammu & Kashmir, North East and Assam were cancelled by the Supreme Court in its February order.
“The current reserve prices for CDMA did not support the business cases in those circles and hence the company decided not to pursue acquiring spectrum in the auction,” it said.
The Government had fixed a reserve price of Rs 4,550 crore for each block in 800 MHz band, which is used for offering CDMA services.
The reserve price was 1.3 times of the price of airwaves frequencies in 1800 Mhz band, used for providing GSM services.
TTSL and Videocon had submitted applications for bidding in CDMA spectrum auction but both players later withdrew which left the fray for radiowaves in 800 Mhz band with no bidder.
The auction for spectrum in 800 Mhz band was slated to begin two days after the winners of 1800 Mhz band auction were declared. (PTI)
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