In a big relief to the telecom sector, the government is considering withdrawing legal cases against telecom companies, involving disputes of about Rs 40,000 crore. The Department of Telecom (DoT) has said that the telecom sector is passing through a financial stress due to various circumstances and telecom services providers are making losses.
It has cited representation from the Indian Banks' Association that adverse developments in the telecom sector may lead to failures, vanishing competition, duopoly, unsustainable operations and severe loss for the banking system which has a huge exposure to this sector.
DoT has asked the Supreme Court for three weeks' time to enable ''the central government to take an informed decision whether to proceed with the present appeal or not'' and requested that the case be adjourned for a period of four weeks.
