MTNL seeks 2 mhz addl spectrum for Mumbai

Mahanagar Telephone Nigam (MTNL) Mumbai has approached the government for an additional frequency of 2 mhz to expand its cellular mobile sevices.

"We have already crossed the 10-lakh mark of subscriber base in mumbai. We need additional spectrum to expand our cellular mobile services and we have already applied for this with the department of telecom (DoT)," R S P Sinha, CMD MTNL, said.

MTNL is one of the fastest growing cellular mobile companies surpassing the growth of all its competitors and this is the second time in the last 6 months that it is seeking additional spectrum to expand services, Sinha said.

MTNL  offers a wide range of telecom services in Delhi and Mumbai.
In Delhi, MTNL's subscriber base is over 9 lakh. The PSU was recently alloted 1.8 mhz each in Delhi and Mumbai taking its total frequency to 8.0 mhz in both the cities.

CDMA operators had earlier objected to DoT's decision to allocate additional spectrum to MTNL saying they were being discriminated against as they were denied additional spectrum despite having the prescribed subscriber base.