2G review: Telcos disappointed, Uninor to move curative plea

Disappointed over the Supreme Court's dismissal of its review petition in the 2G spectrum case, Uninor today said it will move a curative petition, while Sistema Shyam Teleservices said it is deliberating its future course of legal actions.

"We will now move a curative petition and again urge the Supreme Court to keep its order in abeyance until these arguments are seen and appreciated by the new Bench," Uninor said in a statement.

On February 2, the Supreme Court had cancelled 122 telecom licences given to various operators in 2008 under the then telecom minister A Raja on the grounds that they were issued in a "totally arbitrary and unconstitutional manner."

While Uninor (a joint venture between Norway's Telenor and Indian real estate major Unitech) lost 22 of its licences, 21 licences of SSTL were quashed.

"It is extremely disappointing to know that SSTL's review petition has not been accepted.

To protect its interests further, SSTL currently is in the process of deliberating its future course of legal actions," SSTL said in a statement.

The company said it will provide further comments after studying Supreme Court's order on the review petition in detail.

Uninor said it hopes the SC will ensure that "no one has any reason to hold grievance that their evidence was ignored, especially when considering it would only strengthen the sanctity of any order". Another operator, Tata Teleservices, whose three licences were cancelled, did not offer any immediate comment. 

Elaborating the reason behind its disappointment, Uninor said: "By entertaining the review petition and hearing the case again, the SC would have been able to appreciate arguments and evidence that challenges the very basis of its order. We are disappointed that the Court has declined to do so."

With the dismissal of SSTL's review petition, Sistema's USD 3.1 billion investment may be in jeopardy.

Maintaining that being a pure play CDMA operator, its legal case was "significantly different" compared to other mobile operators, SSTL said it had filed the review petition to protect the interest of more than 16 million customers and investments of over USD 3.1 billion.

Russian conglomerate Sistema (which holds 56.68 per cent stake in SSTL) has also invoked a bilateral treaty asking the Indian government to resolve the dispute within six months.

Sistema said it reserves the right to begin proceedings against India in an international tribunal if the dispute is not settled "in an amicable way" by August 28.