Supreme Court cancels 122 telecom licenses in India

Supreme Court(SC) today cancels grant of 122, 2G licenses of different Pvt. Telecom operators in India. Eighty-five out of the 122 licences are outside the eligibility criteria. The TRAI must go in for a fresh issue of licences, ruled the Supreme Court. In another critical judgment, the Supreme Court referred the matter of whether the role of former Finance Minister P Chidambaram should be probed back to the trial court. This represents a breather for Chidambaram, but it does not lift the cloud over him. The Supreme Court has cancelled all 122 2G licences handed out in India. Eighty-five out of the 122 licences are outside the eligibility criteria. The TRAI must go in for a fresh issue of licences, ruled the Supreme Court.
Total 122 mobile network licences after 2008 cancelled by Supreme Court. Government will have to seek fresh recommendations.  Licenses had been issued by A Raja during his infamous tenure as Telecom Minister. Supreme Court says that whether P Chidambaram's role should be investigated by  the CBI  will be decided by Judge OP Saini who is handling the telecom scam. Judge Saini is expected to decide on Saturday whether Mr Chidambaram should be made a co-accused in the telecom scam.  The companies that are set to lose on account of the cancellation of the licences are Uninor (joint venture between Unitech and Telenor of Norway), Loop Telecom, Sistema Shyam (joint venture between Shyam and Sistema of Russia), Etisalat DB (joint venture between Swan and Etisalat of UAE), S Tel, Videocon, Tatas and Idea. Among the 122 licences issued by Raja in January 2008 on first—come first—serve basis, Uninor was alloted 22 pan India licences, Loop 21, Sistema—Shyam 21, Etisalat—DB 15, S Tel 6, Videocon 21, Idea 9 and Tatas 3.