Telecom Lead India: The Supreme Court has dismissed curative petitions of Videocon Telecommunications, Sistema Shyam Teleservices (MTS India), Tata Teleservices (TTSL) and Idea Cellular.
These telecom service providers approached the Supreme Court for re-examination of its verdict cancelling 122 2G spectrum licenses allocated during tenure of former telecom minister A Raja.
The apex court also denied permission to Raja to file his curative petition.
A bench of Chief Justice Altamas Kabir and justices P Sathasivam and G S Singhvi rejected the plea of the telecom firms and Raja saying no case is made out.
“We have gone through the curative petitions and the relevant documents. In our opinion, no case is made out within the parameters indicated in the decision of this Court in Rupa Ashok Hurra vs Ashok Hurra & Anr. Hence, the curative petitions are dismissed. As far as curative petition of Raja is concerned, permission to file curative petitions is rejected. Consequently, applications for stay and appropriate directions are rejected,” it said.
On April 3, 2012, the apex court had dismissed the review petitions of Videocon Telecommunications, S Tel, MTS India, TTSL, Unitech Wireless (Tamil Nadu), Etisalat DB Telecom and Idea Cellular.
A bench of justices G S Singhvi and A K Ganguly (since retired), on February 2, 2012, had cancelled the 122 2G licenses holding as unconstitutional the policy of first-come-first-served.
“It is unfortunate that the Supreme Court has not admitted the curative petition of MTS India. The company believes that it has been unfairly penalized in the February 2, 2012 order by the Supreme Court. While SSTL remains committed to its operations, however, it would be up to the shareholders to decide the go forward strategy of the company,” said MTS India, in a statement.
Telecom analysts were not expecting any favorable response from the Supreme Court.
Recently, the apex court had said telecom operators who did not participate in the November 2012 spectrum auction should not be allowed to continue mobile operations in the country.
The upcoming 2G spectrum auction in March will determine the nature and viabilility of the Indian telecom market. If Indian telecom market is going to witness less participation from mobile service providers in the spectrum auction, it will put pressure on telecom users as they may be forced to pay more for mobile services.
