Telecom Lead India: Mobile service provider Telenor has
served a notice on the government, threatening international arbitration and
claiming damages of nearly $14 billion, according to a report in Economic
Times.
The company approached the government as its Indian
subsidiary will lose 22 2G mobile licences due to the Supreme Court order, on
Monday.
Agreement (CECA) with Singapore to slap a notice seeking a solution from the
government within six months or drag the matter for an international
arbitration for failure to protect its investment.
by Telenor Asia constitute a breach of India’s obligation under the CCEA.
It is also possible that there could be a further breach of CCEA from the
manner in which these licences are now redistributed through auctions,” Telenor said in its notice, which was sent to the Prime Minister’s Office, the
telecom department and the corporate affairs ministry.
the government in accordance with their own policy and process and cited
approvals from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board and the Cabinet Committee
on Economic Affairs (CCEA) to argue that it had complied with the laid down
procedure.
Citing clauses of the CCEA, the notice said that the
compensation has to be equivalent to the market value of the expropriated
investment at the time of the decision, which in case of Unitech Wireless is
February 2, the day when the Supreme Court cancelled 122 licences issued during
ex-telecom minister A Raja’s term. Till then Telenor claims to have invested
close to $14 billion in its Indian operations.
Telecom lawsuits: Telenor declares war against partners in
Pakistan and India
Mobile major Telenor is becoming aggressive in Indian and
Pakistan telecom markets by filing or planning to file lawsuits against its
partners.
In India, Telenor wants to separate from its joint venture
partner Unitech, while the telecom giant has reportedly filed separate lawsuits
against Nokia Siemens Network and Huawei Pakistan in Pakistan. The
matter was moved to court for arbitration over a dispute over an
agreement between Huawei Pakistan and Telenor Pakistan.
2G scam: Sistema Files review petition before the Supreme Court
Recently, Sistema Shyam TeleServices Limited (SSTL)
announced it has filed a review petition before the Supreme Court following the
Supreme Court’s judgment on February 2, 2012 which directed quashing of the 21
telecom licenses granted to SSTL in 2008.
