Source: anhourago New Delhi: Supreme Court on Thursday ordered the government to revoke all 122 telecom licences issued under a scandal-tainted 2008 sale.
Police say that in 2008, when India issued 122 new telecom licences, several rules were violated and bribes were paid to favour certain firms.
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| 2G licences cancelled list |
The violations cost the exchequer as much as $36 billion in lost revenue, the auditor said, equivalent to India’s defence budget.
Andimuthu Raja, the then telecom minister and a member of a party in the coalition government, has been charged with flouting telecoms rules and accepting bribes to favour some firms, and is in jail.
Following are the companies affected by Thursday’s ruling and the number of zonal licences issued to them in 2008.
• Unitech Wireless -- 22 licences
Group companies of Indian realty firm Unitech Ltd that were given 22 telecom licences had not fulfilled eligibility norms for getting these licences, the state auditor has said.
The companies had suppressed facts, had less share capital than required, and submitted false certificates for paid up capital among other deficiencies found, the auditor said.
The telecoms venture has since been bought into by Norway’s Telenor, which currently owns 67.3% of the venture with Unitech holding the remainder.
• Loop Telecom Private Ltd -- 21 licences
Loop Telecom, which was issued 21 telecom licences, suppressed facts, its authorized share capital was much less than required, and it did not have telecom as the main object clause in its memorandum of association among other flaws, the auditor has said.
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| 2G licences cancelled |
Videocon Telecommunications, formerly Datacom Solutions, is part of India’s Videocon group and was issued 21 licences. The auditor said the company had suppressed facts, had much less-than-required authorized share capital and submitted false certificates regarding the company’s paid-up capital.
• Etisalat Db Telecom Private Ltd -- 15 licences
Formerly Swan Telecom, the company had been given 13 licences and also later merged with itself another firm that had won 2 licences. Abu Dhabi’s Etisalat in late 2008 bought about 45% of the company that was then renamed Etisalat DB Telecom.
The auditor said Swan had suppressed facts, had less-than-required authorized share capital, and submitted false certificates from its company secretary regarding paid-up capital.
The auditor also said a unit of Reliance Communications, India’s No. 2 telecom company, held more than 10% equity in Swan at the time of issue of the licences, which is a violation of rules. Reliance Communications has denied the allegation.
• S Tel Ltd -- 6 licences
S Tel, which was given six licences, suppressed facts, had much less than the authorized share capital required to get the licences, submitted false certificate from its company secretary regarding paid up capital, the auditor said.
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| List of Cancelled 2G licences companies |
• Sistema Shyam Teleservices -- 21 licences
Sistema Shyam, which was given 21 licences in 2008, is a joint venture between Russian conglomerate Sistema and India’s Shyam Group. Sistema owns majority stake of the company, while the Russian government also has a stake in Sistema Shyam.
• Idea Cellular -- 13 licences
Idea Cellular, which was given 9 more licences in 2008, is India’s No. 4 mobile operator by subscribers. It now owns Spice, which was also given 4 licences in 2008. Idea said it is using seven of the 13 licences to be revoked.
• Tata Teleservices -- 3 licences
Tata Teleservices, which won 3 licences in 2008, is part of India’s salt-to-software Tata conglomerate. In 2008, Japan’s NTT DoCoMo bought 26% of Tata Teleservices.
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