Etisalat amongst Indian operators under licence cancellation threat

India’s telecoms regulator, TRAI has recommended that the government cancels 38 telecom licences in the wake of the ongoing telecom licensing scandal. Junior telecom minister Sachin Pilot told politicians in the upper house of parliament that the regulator had recommended cancelling the licences after legal examination of the original tenders.

The regulator had earlier wanted some licences cancelled as the companies had not met their network rollout obligations.

Although TRAI has not recommended cancellation of GSM spectrum licences of 85 companies, it did recommended for cancellation of 38 unified access service (UAS) licences. The affected companies and number of licences are as follows: Aircel (1); Dishnet Wireless (3); Etisalat DB (2); Loop Telecom (14); Sistema Shyam Teleservices (10) and Unitech Wireless (8).

Telecom minister Kapil Sibal said that the ministry will be sending notices to the companies asking them to explain why their licences should not be cancelled. The companies have two months to respond to the letters.