The Department of Telecommunication and mobile service providers, including Bharti Airtel [Get Quote], Vodafone and Reliance Communications [Get Quote] failed to reach a consensus on the spectrum issue during a meeting held on Wednesday.

After a two-hour meeting between Telecom Secretary D S Mathur and mobile operators, Bharti Airtel chairman and managing director Sunil Mittal declined to talk to the media, saying "operators have been asked not to make any comment".

As there was no consensus among the operators, Mathur asked operators to meet him individually later on Wednesday.

According to sources, Reliance Communications Chairman Anil Ambani raised the issue of extra spectrum being held by GSM operators. He asked how over 6.2 MHz of radio waves have been given to GSM players beyond their contractual agreement.

Some of the operators also demanded that Letter of Intent for new telephony licences should be issued immediately as in the last two years the government has granted over 50 permissions or LoIs under the same policy.

Telecom secretary gave a patient hearing to all the operators and asked them to resolve the issues amicably.

Mathur also requested GSM operators to withdraw their petition from TDSAT. Cellular Operators Association of India has challenged government's new norms including enhanced subscriber base and allowing of dual technology by a single operator under the same licence.

Vodafone-Essar Managing Director Asim Ghosh was also present in the meeting among others.