Tata Tele may lose 19 GSM permits; COAI seeks cancellation

GSM industry body COAI plans to approach the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) in the "next few days" seeking cancellation of 19 licences awarded to Tata Teleservices over five years ago.

COAI is of the view that that the 19 licences awarded to Tata Teleservices (TTSL) on January 2008 stand cancelled as per the Supreme Court's February 2012 order. DoT had cancelled 122 licences following the apex court order.

"We are planning to write to DoT in the next few days (to cancel Tata Teleservices GSM licences)," COAI Director General Rajan Mathews told PTI.

The industry body said it has sought opinion of former solicitor general Rohinton Nariman on the matter. He endorses the view that the spectrum allocated to Tata Teleservices was quashed by the Supreme Court's order, COAI said.

Telecom spectrum was bundled along with licences earlier. Despite repeated attempts, TTSL spokesperson refused to comment on the matter.

Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), which represents GSM service providers like Bharti AirtelBSE -1.96 %, Vodafone and Idea CellularBSE 1.39 %, said airwaves to TTSL were allocated following two press releases issued by DoT on January 10, 2008.

The Supreme Court cancelled allocation of spectrum through these press releases and other subsequent allocation.

The industry body has maintained that a total 141 licences need to be cancelled, including 19 GSM licences of Tata Teleservices, as the apex court had ordered cancellation of all licences issued in 2008 by then Telecom Minister A Raja.

Tata Teleservices is present in both CDMA and GSM space. Tata Teleservices (TTSL) shut down its operations in Jammu & Kashmir, North-East and Assam circles from January 18 as it did not have spectrum to operate in these areas.

The three CDMA licences of TTSL in Jammu & Kashmir, North East and Assam were cancelled by the Supreme Court in its February, 2012 order.