Reacting to the Supreme Court judgement cancelling 122 2G licences, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) Chairman JS Sarma said that he did not expect disruption of facilities or services to the customers.
Pointing out that the telecom sector had evolved over the last few years, Sarma said TRAI will follow the auction method to allot new licences according to the Supreme Court verdict. He said that the TRAI at this juncture cannot foresee the value of the auction.
"If necessary we will start consultation process with the telecom companies. We have already given our recommendations regarding unified licences," said Sarma.
Offering a ray of hope to the customers of the companies whose licences have been cancelled, he said that subscribers can port out in four months time, but the only catch is that any subscriber under present regulation cannot port out if he has been a customer for only 90 days.
The Supreme Court on Thursday cancelled all 122 telecom licences allotted under the 2G spectrum on or after January 10, 2008. While cancelling the licences the Supreme Court ruled that 85 out of the 122 licences were outside the eligibility criteria for allocation.
The apex court said that the 122 licences for 2G spectrum were granted in an arbitrary and unconstitutional manner.
The licences, which were allotted by former telecom minister A Raja, will be cancelled in four months from now and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) must go in for a fresh issue of licences during this period, the apex court observed.
A penalty of Rs 5 crore has been imposed on Uninor, Swan Telecom and Tata Telecom. A penalty of Rs 50 lakh has also been imposed on Loop, S-Tel, Allianz and Sistema Shyam.
The licences cancelled include 21 of Videocon, 22 of Uninor, nine of Idea, 21 of Loop, six of S-Tel, 21 of Sistema, three of Tata, 13 of Swan and two of Allianz.
