2G scam: Telecom ministry begins issuing notices

The Indian telecom ministry on Tuesday started slapping show-cause notices to operators who were found to have benefited from former minister A Raja’s questionable 2G spectrum allocation methods in 2008.

85 telecom licences are in line to for the notices. In addition, 69 others, identified by Trai for failing to meet their rollout obligations, are also being slapped showcause notices.

The entire process of issuing show-cause notices on around 200 license will be wrapped up within the next three days, a Department of Telecommunications (DoT) official was quoted as saying.

Operators would be given 60 days to respond to the notices after which each case would be dealt with individually.

The Comptroller Auditor General (CAG) had identified 85 of 122 licences issued in 2008 to be ineligible as companies mis-represented facts.

In addition, Trai wrote to the DoT on November 18, asking it to cancel 38 licences and legally examine another 31 others.

The companies which face the wrath includes Unitech (Uninor), Loop Telecom, Datacom, S Tel, Swan Telecom (Etisalat) and Sistema Shyam (MTS).