Indian telecom service providers have asked the authorities in the country to consider allotting unused CDMA spectrum in the 800 megahertz (MHz) band for providing GSM services in the country.

Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India, and Idea Cellular have asked the telecom authorities to consider allocating unused CDMA spectrum for GSM services. They have asked the Department of Telecommunications to consider altering 800MHz airwaves and making them compatible with the 900MHz band that is used for GSM services.

Bharti Airtel CEO of India and South Asia Sanjay Kapoor; Idea Cellular Managing Director Himanshu Kapania; and Vodafone India Managing Director and CEO Marten Pieters wrote a letter to the department appealing for additional spectrum to be freed.

"We recommend the 800MHz spectrum band harmonized with the international band plan to become part of an extended 900MHz band. This will increase the availability of spectrum in the 900MHz band by up to 10MHz, or over 40 per cent," they wrote in the letter.

Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India and Idea Cellular have cited diminishing interest in the CDMA technology and have been asking for unused spectrum to be transferred to for the overcrowded GSM market in the country.