DoT to terminate 6 licences of Idea Cellular

The Telecom Ministry is about to terminate around six circles of Idea Cellular licences in regions including Punjab, Karnataka and Delhi. It is also planning to impose a penalty of Rs.300 crore on the company as it has violated the roll-out obligations.

The source says that the department will send a notice to Idea Cellular claiming them to end the services in six states of the country such as Delhi, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Maharashtra, Punjab and Karnataka.

Of these six licences, four of them belong to Idea Cellular in the regions of Punjab and Karnataka and the others are acquired by Idea from Spice Communications.

Previously, DoT imposed the penalty of Rs.300 crore and the company went to telecom tribunal TDSAT which made it pay about 50% of the amount.

In 2011, Trai the telecom regulator recommended the cancellation of the Idea's licences in Punjab and Karnataka and also that of Spice in the other regions. Idea acquired Spice in 2008 but till date it has not got any approval from DoT to continue with the merger.

As per Trai, as there is approval for the merger from DoT till now, the licences of both the companies for those above mentioned six circles where they are competitors, it is mandatory that both comply to the licensing rules individually.