[Animesh]

Originally Posted by sanjaykk

Any idea what it means for customers? TRAI has been saying that customers will not be affected and is hinting at number porting.

I've been getting this message from Idea Karnataka:

Please be assured that IDEA KARNATAKA SERVICES ARE NOT AFFECTED unlike reported in some media, as we operate on erstwhile Spice Karnataka license.

Is it time to shift operators?

Idea Karnataka would indeed be spared. You need not shift to a different operator (specific case to you) for this 2G Scam.

Originally Posted by hrman

Out of all this, the way forward is the following:
Vodafone instantly cashing on this and issuing a 2 page front page ad in TOI today. Were'nt they erstwhile BPL /Essar/Vodafone essar mobile too? Didnt they get to buy licenses during the scam period too?

Loop used to owned by BPL. Essar's involvement isn't proved yet in Loop. Vodafone isn't involved in all this mess since they had all the required licenses prior to this 2G bidding.

[travelwriter]

Originally Posted by hrman

Out of all this, the way forward is the following:
1. TRAI ....period too?

My understanding is somewhat different.

1. The Hon'ble Supreme Court has pronounced the Govt and its policies as guilty (the first-come-first-served basis)
2. To this extent, all the licences issued under this policy needs to be re-evaluated.
3. Since the case in the court was about 2008 licence issue, its verdict is only about the new operators and some old ones
4. The court has asked TRAI to suggest on how to recover the losses and has suggested re-bidding or re-issuing afresh. TRAI and Govt have to come with a decision on this
5. It has said that the new companies have illegally benefitted, but has not said they are guilty. That is up to the Trial Courts to decide
6. It has asked the Govt to finalise everything within 4 months and wipe the slate clean

This does not mean that the licences will be cancelled. If you read today's papers, the Govt has said it will come out with a new M&A policy within 10 days. It basically means, "we are coming out with a new policy which might mean some of you guys will have to cough up more money. So before that, you have the option of bailing out."

So I do not think operations of the new companies will stop (unless, of course, the sell the stake and leave the arena).

A few days back, the Givt faced flak from India Inc and foreign investors on its decision to stall the FDI in Retail sector. And now this. It is highly unlikely that the Govt will do anything that will jeopardize future FDI inflow.

It is also noteworthy that the only two companies affected, Uninor and MTS, are owned by the Russian and the Norwegian Govt respectively. Russians are old friends of Indiia and Norway is the biggest lender. Videocon, Etisalat and Loop do not have subscribers to talk about. THe other two, however, have quite a good size; I think around 70 million customers.

At the end of it all, I do not see anyone losing except the employees of these companies in case something adverse happens. THe company owners will not have to pay a single dime, old operators will start raising their prices (in fact, Airtel has already mentioned a day before the judgement that it plans to increase tariff (coincidence?)).

It will be interesting to see what solution the Govt comes up with after it is free from all the blame game and rabble rousing.

[jalsa777]

Originally Posted by SunnyBoi

Correction: Etisalat != Loop.

Originally Posted by Animesh

As SunnyBoi correctly points out - Loop isn't Etisalat. Loop used to be owned by BPL and later Khaitan Group took over. Loop Telecom is into many different kinds of trouble.

Loop was originally BPL Mobile. It rolled out its first services in Mumbai back in 1998/99. It had a presence in Mumbai, Maharashtra+Goa, Chennai+Tamil Nadu & Kerala.

Later on in 2005, Essar Teleholdings (JV between Essar and Hutchison) acquired BPL Mobile, Mumbai, and three other circles for $1.15 billion from BPL’s Rajeev Chandrasekhar.
(Essar buys BPL Comm for Rs 4,400 crore)

Then in 2006, Essar sold BPL Mobile to Hutchison (except Mumbai circle). Hutchison also bought out Orange (which was originally Max-Touch) and then merged the operations of both companies and renamed it to Hutch.
(Essar pulls plug on BPL-Hutch merger - Indian Express)

This BPL Mobile Mumbai circle was later renamed Loop mobile. And then Essar group bought 2G licences for all over the country.
Now, its licences have been taken away, but Mumbai remains unaffected because the Mumbai license was alloted way back in 1996/97.

On a side note, Vodafone bought out Hutchison and the operations were renamed Vodafone India. This all old BPL users from Maharashtra and TN are now Vodafone users. (Old customers of this service provider have been on a roller-coaster ride of name changes: Max Touch > Orange > Hutch > Vodafone)

PS: Been a BPL/Loop customer since 1998

[MaNishi]

Agree with your point of view Travelwriter.

Going forward the question is What would be the best way to decide the Spectrum Allotment / Telecom Licenses.Is it going to be First Cum First Serve basis with a fixed price for Telecom licenses or an auction route, the way it happened for 3G licenses? As we have seen, both options have its pro and cons and given the kind of money involved, any decision the government takes there will be criticism either in name of consumer interest or lobbying by corporate houses.

Coming four months are going to be interesting.

[srikanthns]

Thank you Klub class for the list. I was worried as I was holding an Idea and TATADOCOMO SIM from Kerala. Thankfully those licences are not in the cancelled list and i need not bother to switch operators through MNP. Relieved!

[Durango Dude]

First casualty of the 2G Licence cancellation sTel in HP.
STel winding up services in India?

[travelwriter]

Originally Posted by Durango Dude

First casualty of the 2G Licence cancellation sTel in HP.
STel winding up services in India?

It isn't a casualty of 2G exactly. Batelco (STel's foreign partner) had announced in Sep last year that they are pulling out of India. Only the entire sale process will be done by Sep 2012. I know this for sure as a friend of mine who was working there called me frantically for job assistance since they had been informally told to look for jobs elsewhere.

Latest development is that the Govt has asked for extension of the 4-month timeframe. Also, the older operators want to re-bid. It appears all the operators are ok with bidding for spectrum and paying the money. This seems none of them has any intention of leaving