New Delhi, March 2 (IANS) Three telecom service providers — Uninor, SSTL and Videocon — affected by the Supreme Court’s order scrapping their 2G licenses, Friday filed separate petitions seeking a review of the verdict.
Uninor, the joint venture between Norway’s Telenor and India-based Unitech, whose all 22 licences stand cancelled following the Feb 2 verdict, said the apex court order had severe adverse consequences for the licence holders, subscribers, foreign investors and employees.
It said “a key basis of the court’s order to cancel Uninor’s licenses was the conclusion that the award of licenses was unilateral, arbitrary and capricious owing to a lack of consultation within Indian authorities.”
“New and important material suggests that there was a well thought out, bona fide and collective decision by key people in the government in the public interest for granting the startup spectrum within the entry fee of Rs.1,658 crore.”
The firm also said in the current situation, the only significant adverse impact of this judgment is on parties that had nothing to do with either the policy or its implementation.
The Supreme Court order scrapping 122 licences issued by former telecom minister A. Raja in 2008 has affected seven firms. These firms have almost 70 million customers, out of the total 900 million subscribers of the country.
Another firm, Sistema Shyam Teleservices (SSTL) whose 21 licences stand cancelled following the order, filed its petition saying the firm was “unfairly penalized for acting in good faith and in reliance on the appropriateness of the procedures established by India’s telecommunications authorities.”
SSTL said being a CDMA operator, its case was different, compared to other affected mobile operators.
Videocon, which also stands to lose its licences, filed its petition that said the company had done no wrong.
The company said the CBI had given a clean chit to it and it had done no wrong.
Earlier, Idea Cellular had sought a clarification Feb 21. It had filed an application with the Supreme Court registrar claiming it had sought the licences much before 2008. he company stands to lose nine licences.
Tata Teleservices had filed its appeal against the cancellations of its licenses in three circles.
