The Indian telecom ministry has sent notices to cellcos Idea Cellular and Etisalat DB asking them to justify why their licences should not be cancelled after they missed roll-out obligations, according to local reports.
This comes a couple of weeks after…
The Indian telecom ministry has sent notices to cellcos Idea Cellular and Etisalat DB asking them to justify why their licences should not be cancelled after they missed roll-out obligations, according to local reports.
This comes a couple of weeks after Etisalat DB’s vice chairman Shahid Balwa was arrested for his alleged involvement in India’s 2G scam, which costs the country about US$40bn. Balwa resigned in early March.
In the meantime, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) also questioned Idea’s MD Sanjeev Aga with regard to the links between Spice Telecom and Idea. The CBI is reportedly investigating overlapping spectrum licences in 12 circles, which would violate the licence guidelines and could therefore lead to the companies losing their licences.
Recently, the telecom ministry was quoted saying it received Rs3bn (US$66m) from mobile operators after they failed to deploy services within a year of getting licences in 2008.
