Idea Cellular has said it had not breached any licence conditions at the time of acquiring stake in Spice Telecom, according to news reports.
The company said that despite getting legal approval from the High Court for the merger, the Department of Telecommunications was yet to issue a letter. Hence the company has filed an appeal with the Telecom Dispute Settlement Appellete Tribunal.
In a statement, Idea Cellular has said that it paid Rs 8.43 billion as entry fee, and maintained bank guarantees of Rs 3.50 billion, but derived no benefit. It added that no license condition had been breached.
It also said that the court merger was completed with the full knowledge of the DoT, over a year ago and added that for unknown reasons, the DoT has so far not issued merger letter in consonance with the court-approved merger. The company has asked for merger of licenses as per guidelines, which incidentally yields the company nothing beyond the incumbent license entitlement, merger or no merger.
Idea Cellular said it had sought nothing beyond its legitimate right, and has been and will remain unfailingly committed to observing the law of the land in letter and in spirit.
