DoT to cancel only eight out of the 69 licences recommended by TRAI

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has decided to cancel only eight licences for failure of the operator to meet rollout obligations, as against the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (TRAI) recommendation that 69 licences be cancelled.

In so far, Aircel (for two circles), Dishnet (for three circles), Etisalat (for two circles) and Sistema Shyam TeleServices Limited (for one circle) were issued show-cause notices for cancellation of licences.

It is believed that DoT is reluctant to cancel more than these eight licences, as it disagrees with TRAI on the definition of the term ?rollout obligations?.

Rollout obligations are one of the key licence conditions, as it is an indication of how far and how soon an operator rolls out the network.

Prior to this, in November 2010, TRAI had asked DoT to cancel 69 licences granted by former Minister of Telecommunications and IT, A. Raja, on grounds of violation of rollout obligations.

TRAI had said 38 of the 69 licences were to be cancelled immediately, while the remaining 31should be scrutinised carefully by DoT, on grounds of non-utilisation of spectrum and resultant loss of revenue to the exchequer.