New Delhi, Nov. 18: The companies whose licences have been recommended for cancellation for not meeting the roll-out obligation are Loop (14 licences), Sistema (10 licences), Uninor (eight licences), Etisalat (two licences) and Aircel (four licences), said sources.
According to the telecom department’s roll-out obligations, operators have to start services in 90 per cent of the service area in metros, 10 per cent in district headquarters of the states and in other service areas within 12 months of the date of award of licence.
Some 31 licences have been recommended for cancellation due to poor services. These include Etisalat (13 licences), Videocon (10 licences), Aircel (one licence), Loop (six licences) and Sistema (one licence), according to sources.
The CAG report has said that 70 per cent of the new licences were given to companies which were not eligible on the date of filling of the application.
It also found that some of these companies got licences because Mr Raja had tinkered with the “first-come-first-serve policy” of his department.
Meanwhile, Sistema denied that it had not met the rollout obligation. “Amongst the new telecom operators, Sistema Shyam TeleServices Ltd (SSTL) was the first company to launch its services. The company has complied with all its rollout obligations in all the 22 telecom circles and has already secured over seven million voice subscribers and over 3,00,000 data customers,” the company said in a statement.