India’s Department of Telecommunications (DoT) rejected a request by Vodafone India for a renewal of the licences it holds in seven regions, according to a report in The Economic Times.

The second-largest operator in India in terms of subscribers was keen to retain the associated spectrum for licences due to expire in December 2015. The licences cover Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh East, Maharashtra and Gujarat.

Vodafone has been told to convert its licences to unified licences — in which the allocation of operating licences and spectrum are separate — and buy bandwidth in an auction due to take place later this year.

Vodafone’s request was based on licensing rules in place in 1995 (when the licences were first issued), which said operators could seek a 10 year extension of their licences after the initial 20 year term ended.

The DoT said the extent of change in the Indian telecom market in the intervening period means it can’t extend licences under the original rules.

A similar request by Vodafone to extend licences in Kolkata, Delhi and Mumbai due to expire in November 2014 was rejected by the DoT ahead of the spectrum auction held in February. Vodafone challenged this ruling in the Delhi High Court, with a decision still pending.

Along with Bharti, Vodafone had to buy back spectrum in a February auction that raised close to $10 billion.

According to The Economic Times, as many as 29 mobile licences belonging to India’s largest mobile operators are due for renewal between December 2015 and April 2016.

Incumbent operators are likely to face increased competition from new entrant Reliance Jio Infocomm, which spent $1.7 billion on spectrum in the 1.8GHz band in February, and has since shown that it is willing to shake up the market.