Paving the way for the next round of action in Indian telecom sector, the Supreme Court on Sunday refused to stay proposed auction of spectrum from Monday.
The apex court admitted pleas of Vodafone India and Bharti Airtel challenging Telecom Disputes Settlement Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) order declining them any relief.
Rejecting interim relief to the telecom companies, the apex court allowed Center to go ahead with spectrum auction.
Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications (RCom), Tata Teleservices, Uninor, Vodafone, Aircel, Idea Cellular, and Reliance Jio Infocomm are the eight telecom companies in the fray for next week’s spectrum auction, which may raise Rs 11,300 crore for the government.
The India government expects a minimum of Rs 11,300 crore in upfront payments from the auction of airwaves, which are worth Rs 48,685 crore at the base price. It will offer 403 MHz of airwaves in the 1800 MHz band and 46 MHz in the 900 MHz band in the auction.
Airtel and Vodafone approached the Supreme Court after TDSAT on Friday rejected the pleas of Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Idea Cellular and Loop Mobile, for extension of their 2G spectrum licences expiring in November 2014.
Since the SC upheld the TDSAT order, Loop Mobile, a telecom operator in Mumbai, will have to look for options to sell their assets like subscriber base and 900 MHz spectrum in Mumbai telecom circle before November. Talks are currently on with top three players including Airtel, Idea and Vodafone India.
