The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has recommended cancelling Idea Cellular?s licence in the Karnataka and Punjab circles and Spice?s licence in Maharashtra, Haryana and Andhra Pradesh.
According a Department of Telecommunications (DoT) note, “As per TRAI?s recommendation, as of December 22, 2010, these licencees are in violation of terms and conditions pertaining to roll-out obligations”.
It added that since Spice has not been allocated spectrum in Delhi, it did not violate the service roll-out norms for this circle.
In 2008, Idea bought Spice but has not yet received the approval from DoT to proceed with the merger.
However, as per TRAI, since no approval has been received from DoT till date for the merger of the licences of the two companies for six service areas, in which they were competitors, it becomes obligatory for both of them to individually comply with the licensing rules.
