Uninor Cries Foul

In the wake of recent Supreme Court of India judgement on cancelling all 122 2G licenses, Uninor is crying fowl for its misfortune. 22 2G licenses of Uninor has been cancelled.

''We have been unfairly treated as we simply followed the Government process we were asked to,'' Uninor said in a statement.

The company also expressed shock on the Apex court's verdict. ''We are shocked to see that Uninor is being penalized for faults the court has found in the Government process,'' the statement added.

Besides the cancellation of licenses, the Unitech-Telenor JV was also penalized with Rs five crore. Etisalat and TATA are the two other companies who have been penalized with Rs five crore each. Loop and Essar have been fined Rs 50 lakhs each.

The licenses 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.

However the company has said that its operations would not be affected with the cancellation of its telecom licenses. ''It is important to note that order does not stop our operations for now. We will study the order in detail and exercise all options available to ensure that Uninor continues to operate in India,'' the company said.

The company has also appealed the government for a solution so that its customers are not affected by the verdict. ''We also expect the authorities to ensure that our 36 million customers, 17500 workforce and 22,000 partners are not unjustly affected,'' said Unior.

The decision has shocked the telecom industry of the country and might impact the foreign investor confidence in a major way.

The licenses would be cancelled from four months from now. The Supreme Court has now asked the telecom regulator TRAI to make fresh recommendations for how 2G licenses should be allotted within four months.