Inter-ministerial panel Telecom Commission is likely to take a call on Monday on allowing extended use of spectrum by Airtel and Vodafone to avoid disruption in their services in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata, besides deciding on base price for the next round of auction.
"In view of public interest and absence of alternate possibility, the DoT will propose Telecom Commission to extend use of spectrum by Airtel and Vodafone in Delhi till January 14 and till December 15 in Mumbai and Kolkata," an official source said.
Old permit of Vodafone in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata expired on November 29 as well as its right to use spectrum allocated under it. Airtel's permit in Delhi and Kolkata also expired on the same day.
However, both the companies acquired spectrum afresh in February this year but sought time till January 2014 to adjust their mobile network as per the new frequency spots won by them.
In Delhi, Idea Cellular bagged 5 Megahertz of airwaves in premium 900 Mhz band, in which mobile signal covers double area compared to coverage in other spectrum band used for GSM services.