Telecom operators, whose licences will expire on January 18 due to the Supreme Court in February last year, might get a breather.
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is working on several options to allow telcos continue operations after January 18, if they want to.
“If people’s licences are expiring then who moves the Supreme Court... those are all issues that can be certainly decided. But, naturally their business cannot be set at naught... something will have to be done,” said a top official.
The DoT has to explore alternative options for these telcos as it would not be able to conduct auction before January 18, and companies like Telenor has expressed interest to continue operations in Mumbai telecom zone.
However, the official did not clarify if the DoT will approach the Supreme Court seeking extension of licences till the next auction that would be conducted by March. The matter will be decided at the Ministry level, according to the official.
In February last year, Supreme Court has quashed 122 licences for alleged corruption in spectrum allocation. These include 21 licences of Sistema Shyam Teleservices (MTS), 16 permits of Telenor controlled Uninor, 15 of Videocon and three CDMA permits of Tata Teleservices.
In November, the government had received a lukewarm response in spectrum auctioning, with Delhi, Mumbai, Rajasthan and Karnataka failing to attract bidders for huge base price. The Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) on telecom had decided to reduce the reserve price by 30 per cent for the four circles for the next auction which would be conducted by the end of this fiscal year.
The 800 MHz band CDMA spectrum also failed to get any bidder in the November auction. The EGoM is still undecided about what the government should do with the CDMA spectrum.
The EGoM, which will meet on January 7, is likely to discuss on whether it would consult the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on what it should do with the 800 MHz band of spectrum that failed to get bidders in the November round of auction. It might also decide to conduct a fresh auction of the 800 MHz band of spectrum alongwith the 1800 MHz and 900 MHz bands of spectrum in the next round that would be conducted by March.
Besides it would also finalise the design of the next auction and how much would be put for sale.
