The telecom ministry fears it could do little in case the apex court cancels 2G licences of ineligible telecom companies. It is already in the dock over irregularities in the allocation of 2G spectrum, which according to the government audit watchdog the Comptroller and Auditor General ( CAG) resulted in losses of about Rs 1.76 lakh crore to the state exchequer even as the Supreme Court too is looking into the 2G scam.
"There will be action definitely against those operators who adopted unfair, fraudulent means to get the spectrum in 2008. It is already being investigated and actions would follow. They would lose spectrum licences,” said an official of the telecom ministry requesting anonymity.
Telecom minister Kapil Sibal on November 29, 2010 had categorically stated that if it is found that wrong information was given by the telecom firms to bag spectrum licences in 2008, their licences would be cancelled.
The department of telecom ( DoT) said the MNP will help subscribers if licence of their operators are cancelled.
"We are planning to launch the MNP nationwide by January 20. Once it comes, then consumers have options available even in a situation where some licencee or service provider loses licence. Consumers can switch over without losing their numbers or services to other operators,” R. Chandrasekhar, secretary, DoT, said.
He said that there would be no delay in the launch of MNP that it would roll out from January 20, pan- India. He said that all operators will launch MNP on time.
Mobile operators lobbying for further deferring the pan- India rollout of MNP have been told by the Centre to adhere to the deadline.
Mobile service providers have been meeting DoT officials to further defer the rollout. Operators with high stakes in the Indian market have been lobbying hard in the corridors of power to scuttle the MNP. MNP will allow mobile users to switch operators while retaining their number. It has already been introduced in Haryana in late November last year. The roll-out has been deferred four times. It was initially to be rolled out by December 31, 2009, in metro cities across the country.
The deadline was later deferred to March 31, 2010, then June 30 and later to October.
Unitech Wireless-Uninor, Shipping Stop Dot Com (later called Loop Telecom), Shyam Teleservices, Swan (merged with Etisalat DB Telecom) and Datacom Solutions (later changed to Videocon Telecommunications) are under the scanner for committing irregularities to procure the scarce 2G airwaves.
These telecom companies were not eligible to get the 2G licenses granted in 2007 and 2008 and went through a self-certification process. The DoT had issued notices to 85 firms in early December last year asking them why their licences should not be cancelled for suppressing facts. They have been given 60 days to respond.
“We expect to initiate action against ineligible operators who had bagged spectrum licenses soon after we get their response by February end,” said a telecom ministry official.
CAG had earlier indicted these telecom firms for deliberately suppressing facts, disclosing incomplete information, submitting fake documents and of using fraudulent means for bagging 2G spectrum in 2007 and 2008.
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