Sistema Shyam has approached the Department of Telecom to migrate to the new Unified Licence regime. The company had won CDMA spectrum in the 800-Mhz band in eight circles in the auctions held in March. While Sistema Shyam has completed all formalities to get the licences, the DoT has not yet issued it.

Meanwhile, the DoT announced the guidelines for the new Unified licence regime on August 19 under which it has been decided that no fresh licences will be issued under the older regime.

Sistema Shyam has therefore written to the telecom department seeking licences for the eight circles under the new regime. Other players, including Reliance Jio, have also applied for the Unified Licence.

Spectrum issue

Sistema Shyam had bought 3.75 Mhz of spectrum in eight circles during the auction in March for $665 million. But DoT has yet to allocate the entire chunk of spectrum the company had won in the auction. While the company has 2.5 MHz spectrum from the earlier operations before its licences were cancelled after the 2G scam expose, it awaits the additional 1.25 Mhz which it had already paid for.

Meanwhile, legal opinion obtained by the Department of Telecom has indicated that Sistema Shyam may have violated the Supreme Court’s order on the cancellation of 2G licences. According to the Additional Solicitor General’s opinion, Sistema Shyam was not entitled to continue services after February 15 when the apex court had given its final ruling on the issue.

thomas.thomas@thehindu.co.in

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