The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has approached the Attorney General of India for his opinion on whether the entry fee ought to be refunded to the operators facing licence cancellation, as per the Supreme Court’s order, say news reports.
This comes in wake of the Empowered Group of Ministers’ decision to adjust the entry fees of only the operators who participated in the recently concluded 2G spectrum auction.
In its communication to the Ministry of Law in this regard, DoT reportedly stated that the government had received legal notices from various companies including Etisalat DB, Sistema Shyam Teleservices Limited, ByCell, S Tel and Loop Telecom asking it to protect their investment and return the entry fee paid by them.
Among these companies, only ByCell’s licences were revoked by the government on grounds of security concerns.
Of the eight operators whose licences were cancelled by the Supreme Court, only three including Idea Cellular, Videocon and Telenor participated in the fresh auctions held by the government for 2G spectrum.
