The 2G licences awarded to six telcos in January 2008 are unlikely to be cancelled, according to a senior government official cited by the Hindu Business Line.
A cancellation was not a solution and the government may instead consider imposing penalties,…
The 2G licences awarded to six telcos in January 2008 are unlikely to be cancelled, according to a senior government official cited by the Hindu Business Line.
A cancellation was not a solution and the government may instead consider imposing penalties, he was quoted saying.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) recently proposed cancelling 69 2G licences. This announcement followed the resignation of telecom minister A. Raja after months of controversy surrounding the allocation of underpriced 2G spectrum.
The new minister, Kapil Sibal, said he would consider the Trai recommendations to revoke the licences of Loop Telecom (which owns 20 licences), Etisalat DB (15), Sistema-Shyam (11), Videocon (10), Uninor (8) and Aircel (5).
In late October, the Trai had already said it might ask the government to either impose penalties or cancel the licences of some telcos. Trai reportedly argued that the companies did not meet their rollout obligations, which include covering at least 10% of the district headquarters by the end of the first year of receiving licences.
India has a total of 626 districts split into 28 states and seven union territories.
According to local reports, as of January 2010, only two companies had launched operations – Uninor in eight circles and Sistema in three circles. But Loop Telecom, Videocon and Etisalat DB reportedly also claimed to have made launches after January 2010.
The Trai’s recommendations go against an earlier proposal by the DoT to allow the new telcos to sell their licences and airwaves, after they experienced constraints in launching mobile operations across India’s 22 circles.
Such a move could help thin out India’s crowded mobile phone market, currently populated by 14 operators, many of them foreign-owned.
