GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

LOK SABHA

UNSTARRED QUESTION NO: 382

ANSWERED ON:14.03.2012

CANCELLATION OF TELECOM LICENCES MEENA SINGH

(a) whether the Supreme Court of India in its recent judgement has cancelled a large number of telecom licenses allotted to various telecom companies;

(b) if so, the details of such companies; company-wise and circle-wise;

(c) whether some foreign Governments have approached the Indian Government in the aftermath of the Supreme Court judgement in this regard; if so, the details thereof and the issues raised by them;

(d) the amount of license fee likely to be refunded as a result of cancellation of these licenses and the manner in which the Government proposes to re-allocate these licenses;

(e) whether the Government has finalized or proposes to revisit the National Telecom Policy in the light of the Supreme Court judgement; and

(f) if so, the details alongwith the salient features thereof?

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGYbe pleased to state:

ANSWER

THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI MILIND DEORA)

(a)Madam, all the 122 Unified Access Services (UAS) licences granted in the year 2008 has been quashed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India, vide its judgement dated 02.02.2012 in Writ Petition (Civil) No. 423 of 2010 with Writ Petition (Civil) No. 10 of 2011. The above direction of the Court shall become operative after four months from the date of the judgement.

(b)Details of above said 122 UAS licences alongwith the name of the company and name of the service areas is given in Annexure.

(c) Russian Government and Norwegian Government have approached this Government. The Russian Government has conveyed that Sistema Shyam Telecommunications Ltd. (SSTL) has invested over US$ 3 billion in the Telecom sector, but its license has been cancelled due to some legal problems which they understand but this is a matter of serious concern for its investors. Norwegian Government has sought an interaction to discuss the verdict of the Supreme Court on the cancellation of the 2G licences which involves the Norwegian company, Telenor.

(d) The Government, on 03.02.2012, has sought the recommendations of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) as per the directions of the Supreme Court in the above said judgement.

(e) & (f) The new National Telecom Policy has not been finalized.