Trai tells telcos to inform customers about service termination within 10 days

Tata Teleservices has informed Trai it would terminate its service in three areas on the midnight of January 18

The telecom regulator today asked Tata Teleservices, Videocon Telecommunications, Uninor and Sistema Shyam Teleservices — the operators which failed to secure spectrum in the November auction to replace their quashed licences — to inform their subscribers about discontinuation of services within the next 10 days.

Among these operators, only Tata Teleservices informed the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) that its services in Assam, the northeast and Jammu and Kashmir would stand terminated from the midnight of January 18, 2013. The Supreme Court had cancelled CDMA permits of Tata Teleservices in these service areas. In February, the Supreme Court cancelled 122 licences issued in 2008 by then telecom minister A Raja. All these licences will expire on January 18.

According to a Trai statement, companies would need to submit a compliance report to the regulator, indicating the date of discontinuation of services within the next 15 days. While Sistema Shyam would lose its pan-India permits except for Rajasthan, Telenor, which operates Uninor, and Videocon have secured spectrum in six circles in the November auction. Tata Teleservices and Sistema Shyam did not participate in the the auction.

Meanwhile, Norway’s Telenor-controlled Uninor today said it had decided to wind up operations in the Kolkata and West Bengal telecom circles and would issue a public notice to its subscribers to port their numbers or to exhaust their balance by January 18.

The company has about 5.6 million subscribers in the Kolkata and West Bengal telecom circles.

However, the company would evaluate the possibility of bidding for the Mumbai telecom circle in the upcoming auction of the 1800 MHz spectrum band, which would be conducted by March 2013. In July-August, Uninor had trimmed operations to nine circles from 13 earlier.

That time it had stopped services in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka and Orissa.

“We have all been a part of an extraordinary fight back for which I credit our employees and partners and remain grateful to our customers in each of our circles. In Kolkata and West Bengal, our focus now is on conducting the process of closure with full transparency and responsibility to minimise the negative impact this outcome has on all those affected by it,” said Sigve Brekke, managing director, Uninor.

Uninor added it had bid for spectrum in six circles as those accounted for about 80 per cent of its subscribers and 83 per cent of its workforce.

The company will enter into roaming agreements with other service providers in the telecom zones where the company will not be operating post January 18.