Idea Cellular dips 4% on HC order

Shares of Idea Cellular dipped by 4% in opening trade on the bourses after the Delhi High Court ruled that six telecom spectrum licences held by Spice Communications, a company acquired by the Aditya Birla group firm in 2008, would not be transferred without DoT permission.

Shares of the company opened on a weak note at Rs 77, then lost further ground and touched a low of Rs 75. The shares were later trading at Rs 76.50, down 2.80% at 1057 hours on the BSE.

The court said the six licences of Spice Communications would not be transferred to Idea as the company did not comply with licence and merger guidelines at the time of acquisition in 2008. It directed Idea Cellular to handover the overlapping licences and spectrum to the Department of Telecom (DoT) till it received permission to utilise them.

The court also slapped a fine of Rs 1 crore on the company for not giving the correct information to the court.

A similar trend was witnessed on the National Stock Exchange, where the scrip fell to a low of Rs 75.90 after opening at Rs 78.25. It was later quoted at Rs 76.50, down 2.98% on the NSE.

Passing judgement on the merger application of Idea and Spice, the high court said Idea did not place on record the rejection letters written by the DoT on the proposed merger of licence or other relevant documents.

Idea Cellular, however, asserted that it has not suppressed any information from the Delhi High Court, where it had moved an application for the merger of Idea and Spice.

"Idea stands upright, has not suppressed anything at all, let alone willfully, and will appeal for what it believes is right," the company said, reacting to the Delhi High Court order.