Cancellation-hit telcos get more time as auction date extended

The Supreme Court on Monday extended the deadline to auction 2G spectrum till January 11 next year. The court made it clear there would be no more extensions and if the new deadline was not met, contempt of court proceedings would be initiated against the officers responsible.

The bench consisting of Justice G S Singhvi and Justice K S Radhakrishnan clarified the existing licence owners could continue to operate till January 18. That will give a breather to the eight telcos, including Uninor and SSTL, whose 2G licences got cancelled by an earlier judgment by the court. According to the earlier judgment, the operators had to shut operations by September 7. Industry association Auspi (Association of Unified Service Providers of India), which represents CDMA operators, welcomed the move. SSTL, whose 21 licences were cancelled by the February judgment, said, “Our immediate focus is on the curative petition, hence it will be premature for us to say anything at this stage about our participation in the spectrum auction.”

The apex court in February had cancelled 122 telecom licences belonging to eight service providers, including all permits of Uninor, Loop Telecom, Etisalat DB, Videocon, STel, 21 licences of Sistema Shyam, nine of Idea Cellular and three of Tata Teleservices. The department of telecommunications, which was struggling to meet the earlier Supreme Court deadline of August 31, has got some relief as it has another five months to complete the process.