CII hails verdict, cos lament
Though CII has welcomed the SC judgement in 2G case that it would “remove uncertainty”, affected companies have lamented for being “caught unnecessarily”.
CII National Committees on Telecom & Broadband Chairman Kiran Karnik expressed hope “it will remove uncertainty that was affecting the telecom sector over the last year and more. This should now facilitate the acceleration of growth of this sector, and we look forward to conducive government policies and actions to encourage the required investments in telecom infrastructure and services.”
“It is unfortunate that a serious incumbent operator like Idea Cellular is being made to suffer due to this cancellation of licenses, despite being fully compliant at each stage of the license allocation process,” the company said.
Uninor has also said, “We have been unfairly treated as we simply followed the government process we were asked to. We are shocked to see that Uninor is being penalized for faults the court has found in the government process.”
Emirates Telecommunication Corporation, Etisalat, has said the Supreme Court decision relates to events that occurred in January 2008, well before December 2008 when Etisalat invested in Swan. Etisalat has no knowledge of what occurred in the license application process for Swan, far less did it have any involvement.
