New Delhi: The government will begin on Monday the auction for telecom spectrum through which it is hoping to meet Rs 40,000 crore revenue target. The auction for the airwaves or frequencies freed from the cancellation of 122 telecom licenses, belonging to mainly eight companies, by the Supreme Court in February, will start at 0900 hours on Monday.
"We have taken quick decision, firm decisions in the telecom sector. The result of which is that we are in process of auction. 12th of November that auction will start," Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal said at an event on Saturday. The cancelled permits included Uninor's 22 licences, Loop Telecom (21), Sistema Shyam (21), Idea Cellular including Spice Communications (13), Videocon (21), Etisalat DB formerly Swan Telecom (15), S-Tel (6) and Tata Teleservices (3 CDMA licences).
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12:49 AM, Nov 12, 2012
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday pulled up the union government for not implementing its order directing auctioning of 122 cancelled 2G licences in both letter and spirit and going in for a truncated auction. "Prima facie we can say you are not complying with the court orders. You are playing with it. It is unfortunate," apex court bench of Justice GS Singhvi and Justice KS Radhakrishnan told Additional...
04:59 AM, Nov 10, 2012
New Delhi: The Delhi High Court will begin hearing Telenor's plea seeking Rs 6400 crore as indemnity from Unitech on Tuesday for losses incurred after following the cancellation of their joint venture Uninor's 2G spectrum licenses. Unitech is expected to respond in the apex court on Tuesday. Telenor, which also sought a direction to freeze Unitech's assets, has alleged Unitech misrepresented facts before formation of their venture Uninor brand. Uninor's...
10:31 AM, Oct 09, 2012
New Delhi: An Empowered Group of Ministers on Monday decided to refund licence fee of companies whose telecom licences stand cancelled but have no criminal charge against them. The EGoM, headed by Finance Minister P Chidambaram, also decided to recommend to the Cabinet a one-time fee on existing telecom operators for spectrum they hold beyond 4.4 MHz. The Supreme Court in February had cancelled 122 licences granted during former Telecom...
10:42 PM, Oct 08, 2012
The Russian Ambassador to India has warned that if Sistema, which has a joint venture with Shyam TeleServices, is not allowed to do business in India, then Indian investments in Russia may be hit. ...
10:21 AM, Jul 21, 2012
New Delhi/Mumbai: Frustrated by a lack of opportunities in India, Germany's Fraport, the world's No 2 airport operator, is shutting its development office in the country, the latest in a growing list of companies exiting Asia's third-largest economy. Regulatory uncertainty and policy gridlock have battered foreign corporate sentiment towards India, adding to a dramatic slowdown in economic growth and exacerbating a widening current account deficit that has knocked the rupee...
09:27 PM, Jun 08, 2012
New Delhi: Norway has issued a warning to India saying there could be political implications if telecom company Telenor is forced to move out because of the Supreme Court's scrapping of 2G licences and TRAI's recommendations on a fresh auction. Trond Giske, Norway Trade Minister, said, "This situation of license withdrawal have created obstacles in our future. It has even further political implications. I think that it will influence India."...
08:06 AM, May 13, 2012
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday allowed the government to withdraw its petition seeking review of the 2G judgement after rapping it for circulating a letter on its intention to various parties linked to the matter. The apex court granted withdrawal of the review petition on the "oral request" made by Additional Solicitor General Indira Jaising. She made the request on the advise of a bench comprising justices GS...
03:48 PM, May 10, 2012
Hyderabad: Uninor on Saturday said it is optimistic that a solution to the 2G spectrum issues will be found even as the company has initiated search for a new Indian partner for setting up a new entity. "We see there will be a clarity on 2G spectrum auction process before June 2 and are hopeful that a solution will be found before June 2 (when its licences would terminate). At...
02:33 AM, Apr 22, 2012
New Delhi: President Pratibha Patil has signed the reference on 2G seeking clarity on the Supreme Court's verdict. This comes after the Supreme Court refused to review its decision on cancellation of the 2G licenses. The government wants to know if the 2G licences allotted during the NDA regime will be scrapped too. The government had on Tuesday agreed to issue a Presidential reference to the Supreme Court on the...
01:33 PM, Apr 12, 2012
New Delhi: The government on Tuesday agreed to issue a Presidential reference to the Supreme Court on the apex court's order cancelling 122 2G telecom licences. "The proposal for Presidential reference has been cleared," Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni said after the meeting of the Cabinet. The Department of Telecom feels that the judgement has ramifications on several other sectors which also use the Supreme Court condemned first-come-first-serve policy...
08:10 PM, Apr 10, 2012
New Delhi: Norway's Telenor ASA, whose India joint venture is among companies that are set to lose their telecoms licences, on Tuesday said it sought to claim compensation for all investment, guarantees and damages from the Indian government. An earlier report had claimed that the Norwegian company had served a notice to the Indian government, claiming damages of nearly USD 14 billion. However, the Telenor ASA refuted the reports saying...
11:48 AM, Mar 27, 2012
New Delhi: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Monday said companies exiting the telecommunication sector need not to be refunded their entry fee and a separate policy to help them move out is not necessary. "There is no need for a separate exit policy and that the entry fee paid will continue to be non-refundable," TRAI said in its draft response to 'Exit Policy for Various Telecom Licenses'....
11:57 PM, Mar 26, 2012
New Delhi: The Union Cabinet on Saturday deferred a decision on a proposal to make a Presidential reference on the Supreme Court's order on 2G licences regarding auction of natural resources. Sources said it was decided at the meeting to call the Solicitor General for hearing his views before a decision is taken. Another meeting may be held next week, sources said. The government is considering seeking the Presidential reference...
07:34 PM, Mar 10, 2012
New Delhi: The Etisalat DB and TDSAT will come up for hearing on Monday in the Delhi High Court. Telecom tribunal TDSAT issued a notice to Etisalat DB on Reliance Infratel's plea seeking to recover Rs 1,200 crore from the operator which had taken its telecom infrastructure on lease. A TDSAT bench headed by its chairman, Justice SB Sinha, asked the company to file a reply within two weeks and...
10:02 AM, Mar 05, 2012
New Delhi: The Government will not challenge the Supreme Court order cancelling 122 new 2G licences, but the Government is trying to buy time on June deadline of auctioning of cancelled licences through a Presidential refrence under Article 143, said sources. The sources also said that the Presidential refrence is an attempt by the Government to reassure the affected telecom companies without getting its hands dirty. The Supreme Court on...
06:46 PM, Feb 27, 2012
New Delhi: An informal group of ministers, that include Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal, on Friday met for the second time in as many weeks to discuss fallout of the Supreme Court order quashing 122 telecom licences. The meeting, also attended by Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Telecom Secretary R Chandrashekhar, was however inconclusive due to the absence of Law Minister Salman Khurshid...
04:49 PM, Feb 24, 2012
New Delhi: Telenor Group is seeking indemnities from Unitech and a new local partner, reports CNBC-TV18's Siddharth Zarabi. There is no mention of the warranty claims or the amount that is sought as compensation. The press release talks about the share purchase agreement, share subscription agreement, at the time, when Telenor invested in this company. That, therefore, must definitely have a lot to say on that matter. Telenor is not...
08:47 AM, Feb 16, 2012
Nearly a week since the Supreme Court cancelled 122 telecom licences, Justice Ganguly - the man who passed the landmark order - has spoken out. In an exclusive interview to CNN-IBN, he says he was under no pressure, and courts don't need to protect foreign interests. ...
08:11 AM, Feb 08, 2012
New Delhi: New operator Uninor, a joint venture between Telenor of Norway and Unitech, on Monday said the company will participate in 2G spectrum auction but did not rule out exit option from the Indian market. "In principle we will go for auction but I am not saying that whether we will win everything ... So, the option of exit cannot be ruled out," Uninor Managing Director and Telenor's Asia...
12:50 PM, Feb 06, 2012
