Foreign telecom players including Telenor, Sistema JSFC and Etisalat have sought the Government's intervention in protecting their investments in the 2G mobile companies affected by the Supreme Court ruling.
These players said they made the investments in the 2G companies based on licences issued by the Department of Telecom and hence expect a fair policy decision from the Government.
Some of the players are willing to buy back the spectrum through an auction but want the Government to sell all available airwaves.
“They should not try to create an artificial supply-demand gap just to earn more revenues,” said one of the affected operator. Other players that do not want to participate in the auction simply want the Government to refund the entry fee they paid for the licences.
Russian major Sistema said that it expects a clear, transparent, and equitable policy decision by the Government. “Sistema is being penalised for acting in good faith and in reliance on the appropriateness of the procedures established by India's telecommunications authorities. To safeguard its interests, Sistema and SSTL will contest this order by pursuing all available legal remedies,” the Russian firm said.
Sistema has invested millions of dollars in rolling out services and is being seen as one of the players likely to take part in the auction.
Norway's Telenor Group is another player which said it wants its Indian operations to continue. “Our intention is to fight to protect our lawful investments in the country. We are looking to the Government to arrive at a fair solution. We expect that the intention remains of bringing new competition to India,” Telenor Group said. The Norwegian company had paid over Rs 6,000 crore for a 67 per cent stake in Uninor as part of its emerging market strategy. Others are looking for a fair exit policy from the Government.
Sources in one of the affected companies said that it may even sue the Department of Telecom for issuing licences without following the due process. “Instead of punishing the DoT which did not follow the procedures, the operators are being held liable,” an operator said.
Meanwhile, incumbent players are using the opportunity to wean away the 70 million subscribers currently with the troubled operators through Mobile Number Portability. Vodafone, for instance, released print advertisements in major newspapers urging subscribers to shift to its network.