Govt may cancel 20 telecom licences

 The DoT had started issuing notices to telecom companies, after the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) asked it to take action against the  firms which failed to honour the rollout obligation.

The TRAI has pointed out that a total of 69 licence holders have violated the rollout obligation condition. 

As against this, the DoT has informed the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament that it has issued show-cause notices to 13 companies which are stated to be “ineligible” for getting them for termination of their licences.

Based on the report of the CAG, the Department of Telecom (DoT) has “issued show-cause notices to 13 companies for termination of the 85 new licences issued in 2008. The companies have given their clarifications which are under examination,” DoT said in its reply to PAC's questionnaire.

But, the Ministry again rejected the allegation of any notional loss due to issuance of 122 new licences in 2008 and said the premium placed on the scarce resource from the perspective of a producer need not necessarily translate into a loss when seen from the view point of the consumer and public welfare.

 The PAC, headed by BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi, which is probing the 2G spectrum scam, had sent 40 questions to the DoT related to this issue.