The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has filed an affidavit with the Supreme Court to allow operators, whose licences have been cancelled, to continue providing services until the upcoming spectrum auction, say news reports.
According to DoT, operators whose licences have been cancelled may not express interest in bidding in the forthcoming spectrum auction if they are not permitted to provide mobile services after January 18, 2013. This, as per DoT, could impact the discovery of an optimal price for spectrum in the upcoming auction.
Also, DoT has suggested that in case the court agrees, it could consider asking operators to pay a spectrum fee effective from December 19, 2012. In case the Court does not agree to DoT’s suggestion, DoT has said that the government ought to issue temporary licences to these operators for the duration of the auction.
