Lok Sabha Question No. 615 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2015-12-02
Subject: Delay in Rolling Out Services
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: JYOTI DHURVE

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO 615 TO BE ANSWERED ON 2 nd  DECEMBER, 2015

## DELAY IN ROLLING OUT SERVICES

## †615.  SHRIMATI JYOTI DHURVE:

Will  the  Minister  of  COMMUNICATIONS  AND  INFORMATION  TECHNOLOGY be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has recommended to cancel the licenses of the companies unable to roll out services on time;
- (b) if so, the details thereof along with the erring companies;
- (c) the action proposed to be taken in the licensing agreement in case of failing to roll out the service within stipulated timeframe; and
- (d) the action taken by the Government against erring telecom companies as per the licensing conditions, company-wise?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI RAVI SHANKAR PRASAD)

- (a) &(b) TRAI  vide  its  letters  dated  18 th November  2010  and  22 nd December 2010 recommended for cancellation of 43  Unified Access Services(UAS) licenses of the companies unable to roll out services on time. The  details of erring companies are enclosed as Annexure I.
- (c) &(d) Matter  was  examined  in  the  Department  of  Telecommunications  and after  taking  legal  opinion  of  Ministry  of  Law  and  Justice,  it  was  decided  to  recover Liquidated Damages (LD) from the defaulters in accordance with terms and conditions of respective License(s) and not to take any action for cancellation of Licenses.However,  39  of  these  licenses  were  subsequently  cancelled  vide  Hon'ble Supreme  court  for  other  reasons  vide  judgments    dated  2.2.2012  in  WP(Civil)  No. 423/2010  &10/2011.The  process  for  recovery  of  LD  from  the  defaulters  has  already been initiated.Matter regarding methodology of calculating LD is subjudice with Hon'ble Supremecourt of India ,vide Civil Appeal No. 25442 of 2012, UoI Vs Unitech Wireless.

Contd…….2/-

Annexure I

List of companies whose Universal Access Services(UAS) Licenses were recommended for cancellation by TRAI  due to not meeting out roll out obligations:

| No.   | Name of Licensee Company           |   Number of UAS licences |
|-------|------------------------------------|--------------------------|
| 1.    | Aircel Ltd.                        |                        1 |
| 2.    | Dishnet Wireless Ltd.              |                        3 |
| 3.    | Etisalat DB Telecom Pvt. Ltd.      |                        2 |
| 4.    | Loop Telecom Ltd.                  |                       14 |
| 5.    | Sistema Shyam Teleservices Ltd.    |                       10 |
| 6.    | Unitech Wireless (East) Pvt. Ltd.  |                        2 |
| 7.    | Unitech Wireless (North) Pvt. Ltd. |                        5 |
| 8.    | Unitech Wireless (West) Pvt. Ltd.  |                        1 |
| 9.    | Idea Cellular                      |                        2 |
| 10.   | Spice communications LTD.          |                        3 |
| Total | Total                              |                       43 |

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