Bharti gets 2 Mhz extra in Delhi

Bharti Televenture's cellular operations in Delhi got a major boost after it was allocated an additional spectrum of 2 Mhz.

Bharti, which was facing congestion problems in catering to its 1.1 million subscribers, will now be able to offer better services. The additional spectrum will also allow the company to add another 500,000 new subscribers.

The fresh allocation takes the total spectrum available to Bharti in Delhi to 10 Mhz, the highest in the country. Most cellular operators have about 6-8 Mhz. In Delhi, Bharti handles the most number of subscribers in the country among all cellular operators.

The new bandwidth has been allocated in the 1800 Mhz frequency range. At present, Bharti uses the 900 Mhz frequency range in Delhi . The difference is not going to pose any major problem, except that subscribers with old single-band handsets will not be accommodated on the new spectrum. These subscribers will continue to be on the 900 Mhz frequency range.

The Wireless Planning and Co-ordination (WPC), which issued the spectrum, asked Bharti to begin trials within the next 30 days. The additional spectrum will be made available commercially only after the trials are completed. WPC said if the company faced any interference in the allotted spectrum it would be replaced.

Despite the additional allocation, cellular firms said the spectrum availability in India was low compared to international standards. International operators are allocated a 16 Mhz spectrum on an average.

The government, however, expressed its inability to free more spectrum on the ground that the defence forces controlled a large chunk of the airwaves.

With WPC issuing additional spectrum to Bharti, other cellular operators are going to raise demands for more spectrum.