The Telecom Disputes Settlement Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) has asked the government to return the performance bank guarantees submitted by Etisalat DB at the time it obtained spectrum, say news reports.
Prior to this, Etisalat had approached the tribunal against the Department of Telecommunications? (DoT) move to encash its bank guarantees on grounds that the operator did not meet its rollout obligations in 11 circles. Etisalat had argued that despite the cancellation of its licences, following the Supreme Court order in early 2012, it had met the necessary rollout targets.
Also, in May this year, TDSAT had reduced the performance bank guarantee the operator submitted to DoT by 50 per cent.
The operator had submitted performance bank guarantees of Rs 1.6 billion in 2008 for the Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh (East), Uttar Pradesh (West), Maharashtra, Haryana and Tamil Nadu circles.
