The Supreme Court of India has ruled that all those companies who have not been able to renew their 2G license will have to cease operations with immediate effect as their permits will be revoked. The auction for airwaves took place about three months ago. The Supreme Court allowed only those companies who won the licenses in that November auction to continue with their services.
The licenses have been revoked with immediate effect for all those telecom companies who have not been successful in their bidding. The Supreme Court has however cleared up the point that the revoking of the license will not apply to those telecom companies that have a spectrum with 900 MHz band. The Court has directed the government to put up on a fresh auction all the spectrum that has been freed after the cancellation of the licenses.
This verdict by the Supreme Court will put a total stop to one company in particular, Sistema Shyam Teleservices Ltd. who did not participate at all, among other companies, in the auction that took place in November last year.
A total of one hundred and twenty two telecom licenses have been cancelled. These licenses were allotted under the 2G spectrum in January 2008. Eighty five licenses out of these were outside the eligibility criteria for allocation. Despite these cancellations, the Chairman of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has informed the customers that there will be no disruption in the services or the facilities in question.