Foreign operators Russia-based Sistema and Norway-based Telenor on Friday said that they followed all rules and regulations and were wrongly punished.
The Supreme Court on Thursday ordered cancellation of all licences issued during the regime of former communications and IT minister A
Raja.
“Sistema by way of its investments in SSTL has fully demonstrated its commitment to its Indian operations and is very disappointed by the Supreme Court’s decision. In essence, Sistema and SSTL are being penalised for acting in good faith and in reliance on the appropriateness of the procedures established by India’s telecommunications authorities. Sistema therefore looks forward to a clear, transparent, and equitable policy decision on these matters by the Indian government,” said Sistema Shyam TeleServices Ltd (SSTL).
Sistema and SSTL will contest this order by pursuing all available legal remedies, said a company official.
SSTL is a national telecom operator serving more than 15 million customers, employing over 3,500 employees, and with investments of over R13,000 crore.
“The Telenor Group wants to be clear that Uninor operations are continuing. Our intention is to fight to protect our lawful investments in the country. We are looking to the government to arrive at a fair solution. We expect that the intention remains of bringing new competition to India,” said a statement issued by Telenor group.
The Norwegian government has said that they will actively contribute to find solutions to secure Telenor’s investments in India.