Terming the merger of two companies as violative of rules, it said that it had asked for punitive action against the telecom companies. “Trai wrote to DoT that Idea and Spice are in violation of the terms and conditions pertaining to roll-out obligations and the merger between the two companies is in violation of the guidelines for the Intra-Service area merger. Hence, the licences of Idea in Punjab and Karnataka service area and Spice in respect of Maharashtra, Haryana and Andhra Pradesh service area may be cancelled,” it said in its 19-page affidavit.
It further said it had written to the department of Telecommunication as 69 licenses out of 130 did not fulfill the mandatory roll-out obligations so immediate necessary action be taken against them.
The role of Trai has come under the radar as the apex court questioned its role saying that it remained silent when telecom firms failed to fulfill the roll-out obligations for 2G spectrum.
Published 23 February 2011, 19:30 IST