Telecom Lead India: Uninor has filed an application in
Supreme Court seeking its intervention against TRAI’s proposals to sell 2G
spectrum.
According to Uninor, TRAI recommendations are not in line
with the February order of the Supreme Court.
Today, we sought the Supreme Court’s permission to file
an interim application to bring this to the court’s attention. The court has
allowed us to file an application and stated that it is open to hearing our
arguments,” Uninor said in a statement.
In February, the apex court had ordered the telecom
regulator to work out the modalities for auctioning 2G spectrum.
New players, including Uninor, are of the view that the
Supreme Court’s order was to auction licences which means that incumbent
operators which already have a licence should not be allowed to participate in
the auction, according to a report in Hindu BusinessLine.
Uninor had stated this in its submission to the TRAI
while suggesting a three-phase auction wherein the first round is restricted
only to new operators. These operators argue that the purpose of the auction is
to give the new players a fair chance to get back the cancelled licence through
a market mechanism.
However, the TRAI has suggested an open auction with no
restrictions. The regulator has suggested a base price of Rs 18,000 crore for 5
Mhz spectrum in the 1800 Mhz band.
Uninor, Videocon Airtel, Idea, Vodafone knock telecom ministry
door
Airtel, Idea, Vodafone, Uninor and Videocon have
approached Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal expressing their concerns over TRAI’s
spectrum recommendations.
CEOs of these five telecom companies said the reserve
price proposed by the telecom regulator should be reduced by at least 80
percent.
editor@telecomlead.com