COAI calls for TTSL licences to be cancelled

Industry lobby group the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) is planning to approach the Department of Telecommunication (DoT) to request the cancellation of 19 licences held by Tata Teleservices (TTSL), reports NDTV. The COAI holds that TTSL’s licences were cancelled as part of the Supreme Court’s controversial February 2012 order that invalidated concessions allocated after January 2008, over suspicions of corruption. The DoT revoked 122 concessions invalidated by the order, although the COAI contends that 19 of TTSL’s licences, issued in January 2008, should have been included – bringing the total to 141. The COAI’s protests may be too late, however: as previously noted by CommsUpdate, India has since attempted to reauction the concessions, with limited success. The first round of sales in November 2012 saw airwaves in the four busiest circles left unsold, bringing in less than a quarter of the target INR400 billion (USD7.25 million) whilst a second attempt in February 2013 involved just one bidder.