Idea Cellular has requested the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to fast track the process of transferring its two licences, presently held by Spice Communications. These licences are for the Karnataka and Punjab circles.
According to Idea Cellular, it continues to await the transfer of these two licences despite the High Court approving the merger between Spice Communications and Idea Cellular three years ago. However, DoT has maintained that the Idea-Spice merger violated cross-holding licence norms in six telecom circles, including Punjab and Karnataka.
In its communication to DoT, Idea Cellular pointed out that the operator has been unable to launch 3G services in the Punjab circle since it is awaiting commercial approval from DoT for using 3G spectrum. In 2010, the operator had paid Rs 3.22 billion for acquiring the 3G spectrum in Punjab. The service provider has claimed that the delay in the launch of 3G services has severely impacted its business.
In addition, Idea Cellular has stated that the lack of government support in safeguarding its existing investments could affect the company?s planned Rs 30 billion qualified institutional placement (QIP). The operator plans to come out with a QIP for which it has already received interest from foreign institutional investors, pension funds and asset management companies such as Fidelity International, BlackRock and Vontobel.
