Telecos shocked and anguished
02 Feb 2012
The Supreme Court's judgement to cancel 122 telecom licences issued in 2008 evoked mixed reactions from operators – from shock to ignorance and of unfair treatment.
The cancellation of the licences would free about 500 Mhz of 2G spectrum, which may be auctioned by the government. (See: SC cancels all 2G licences, orders fresh spectrum auction)
Uninor, a subsidiary of Norwegian telecom operator Telenor, said it was shocked to be penalised for faults in the government process.
"We have been unfairly treated as we simply followed the government process we were asked to. We are shocked to see that Uninor is being penalised for faults the court has found in the government process. It is important to note that the order does not stop our operations for now. We will study the order in detail and exercise all options available to ensure that Uninor continues to operate in India,'' the company said.
''We also expect the authorities to ensure that our 36 million customers, 17,500 workforce and 22,000 partners are not unjustly affected," it added.
Idea Celluar got entangled in the issue after it bought fresh spectrum from Spice Communications.