SC extends 2G auction deadline till January 11, 2013

28 Aug 2012 Evaluate

Granting government more time to sell 2G mobile radio airwaves through an open auction, the Supreme Court (SC) on Monday extended the time for fresh auction of 2G spectrum licenses till January 11, 2013. The apex court, besides extending the deadline has also allowed those carriers whose licenses were set to be revoked to operate till Jan 18, 2013. The court, however, warned that if the auction process is not completed by the fixed deadline, it may initiate contempt proceedings against the officer concerned and impose a steep penalty.

Re-allocation of these radio airwaves come following the Supreme Court’s verdict on February 2 for cancelling all the 122 spectrum licenses allotted in 2008 during the tenure of the former telecom minister A Raja. Moreover, this auction comes as the last chance for companies including Telenor and Sistema to win back their permits that are set to be revoked after court order.

However, there comes a rider with such order, as a bench comprising justices G S Singhvi and K S Radhakrishnan had on Friday urged the Telecom Secretary to file an affidavit giving an undertaking that the 122 2G spectrum licences cancelled by its February 2 judgment will be auctioned in a time-bound manner. 

The undertaking was sought post the Centre twice failed to meet the deadline set by the apex court for auctioning. The court had earlier extended its original June 2 deadline to August 31, 2012, refusing to grant 400 days to the government to complete the process of fresh auctioning. Earlier, the government sought time until November 12 to begin the auction and 40 days from the completion of auction to allocate frequencies. Further, setting conditions, the court has directed that it would not accept the undertaking from officers below the rank of secretary.

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