NEW DELHI: Telecom regulator, TRAI has recommended the government to cancel 38 telecoms licences, including some held by Telenor, Sistema and Etisalat's Indian ventures, a government statement said on Friday.
Junior Telecoms Minister Sachin Pilot told lawmakers in the upper house of parliament that the regulator had recommended cancelling 31 other telecoms licences after legal examination, the statement added.
Government officials have earlier said the regulator had recommended cancelling some licences as the companies had not met network rollout obligations.
On Thursday, Telecoms Minister Kapil Sibal had said his ministry would send notices to the companies by the end of this week asking them to explain why their licences should not be cancelled.
These telecom firms will be given 60 days to respond. Many companies are facing allegations of not disclosing all facts while applying for 2G licences in 2007.
Recommendation for this strong action was made to the telecom ministry owing to the companies' non-compliance or irregular roll-out of network, as laid down in the contract.
The action came amid the Comptroller and Auditor General slamming the telecom ministry for irregularity and impropriety in giving licences to new players in 2008, causing a loss of a whopping Rs 1.76 lakh crore to the exchequer.
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