Supreme Court scraps 122 2G licenses

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The Supreme Court of India has canceled about 122 2G license issued in 2008 at below market price during A Raja’s tenure. Supreme court has ordered TRAI to make fresh recommendations for the allotment of the licenses within four months.

A Raja granted 2G Telecom license to new players on first come first serve basis ignoring advice to hold an auction. Telecom players bought 2G license in 2008 with the rates based on 2001

The court has also ordered Uniror, Etisalat, Swan Telecom and Tata to pay penalty of Rs 5 crore each and Loop, S-Tel, Allianz, Sistema Shyam & Essar Rs 50 Lakh each. Reliance communications announced that license to the company was issued before 2001 and will not be affected by the Supreme Court decision.

“RCom’s licences are not affected by the Supreme Court judgement pronounced today,” the telecom service provider said in a statement to  the BSE, ”RCom’s licences were all issued in 2001 or prior”.

Will consumers be affected?

Supreme Court has made it easier for consumers and have ordered TRAI to make fresh recommendations for the licenses within four months. Apart from that, customers can also make use of MNP (Mobile Number Portability) launched last year. J S Sharma, chairman TRAI, said, “Existing subscribers can be transferred to other operators and we will come out with consultation process in next few weeks.”

The licenses to be scrapped includes:

• Unitech Wireless and Datacom: 22
• Essar Loop and Shyam Telelink: 21
• Swan: 13
• Idea: 9
• Spice: 4
• S-Tel: 6
• Tata Tele: 3

Here’s the list of licenses issued after introduction of UAS licensing regime i.e since 11.11.2003

List of 122 Licences Issued on 10 January 2008