Supreme Court asks operators who did not participate in the 2G spectrum auction held in 2012 to cease operations

The Supreme Court has ruled that the operators, who lost their licences in February 2012 or did not participate in the recently held 2G spectrum auction, should cease operations.

At the same time the court has directed players which won spectrum in the 2G spectrum auction held on November 12 and 14, 2012, to start operations in their respective circles with immediate effect.

A bench comprising justices G S Singhvi and K S  Radhakrishnan has stated that the operators who were allowed to continue operations even after cancellation of their licences in February 2012, will have to pay the reserve price fixed for the spectrum in the just concluded spectrum auction. Earlier, the apex court through its interim order had extended the deadline for these players to continue offering services to subscribers.

Further, the bench clarified that the apex court?s judgement dated February 2, 2012 would not impact telecom players holding the spectrum in 900 MHz band. The bench has also directed the government to hold fresh auction for the 2G licences cancelled by the Supreme Court.

In a related development the Supreme Court also dismissed curative petitions filed by telecom players like Sistema Shyam TeleServices Limited (SSTL), Videocon, Idea Cellular and Tata Teleservices. 

Earlier, these operators had filed a petition with the Supreme Court to revoke the 2G licence cancellation order passed by the apex court. The apex court had cancelled 122 2G licences in February 2012.

The dismissal of curative petition was expected to have a huge impact on SSTL which was hopeful of Supreme Court revoking the 2G cancellation judgement to revive its operations in the country. However, SSTL spokesperson has confirmed that a separate order would be issued by the Supreme Court with respect to SSTL.

The decision was also expected to impact Videocon, which lost 2G licences in few circles. However, the operator participated in the 2G spectrum auction held in November 2012 and won back spectrum in six circles. It is therefore in a position to operate its mobile network in the country.