The Supreme Court on Tuesday extended the deadline for fresh auction of the 2G spectrum to August 31, 2012 from the earlier June 2 time limit.

However, it declined the Centre’s demand for a 400 day time period to complete the whole process. The court warned that if any plea is filed for further directions, it will impose a fine as such pleas amounts to wasting the courts time.

The court also extended the validity of the 122 cancelled licences till September 7, 2012. This means the operators can continue their services till then.

The February 2 order of the Supreme Court had fixed a four-month deadline to complete the entire process. The Attorney General Mr G E Vahanvati had cited practical constraints in completing the whole process of fresh auction by June 2. He also said the latest recommendations of the telecom regulator TRAI on 2G spectrum pricing was released only on Monday.

The court agreed that it was not possible to technically analyse the auction by June 1. However, it said the entire exercise of fresh auctions would not have been needed if the Government had made a little more effort.

The court maintained that the Centre was aware that something wrong had happened, following which the petition to cancel the licences were filed.

The 122 licenses cancelled included 21 licenses of Sistema Shyam TeleServicesLimited (SSTL).

Reacting to the apex court order, SSTL said, "In the interest of more than 70 million affected customers, including more than 16 million customers of SSTL, the company had filed an application before the Supreme Court seeking a clarification that quashing of the licenses is to become operative simultaneously with the conclusion of the grant of licenses and auction process for allocationof 2G spectrum."

"It is heartening to note, that the Supreme Court has clarified its position in favor of our plea. The said order comes as a huge relief to our customers, employees, investors and all members of the telecom ecosystem who are both directly and indirectly associated with SSTL," it said.

Another affected operator Uninor said, "We welcome the fact that the court has ensured speedy auctions and allowed our operations to continue till such time." Uninor had filed a plea that the auction should be held within the earlier deadline of June 2.

"(The deadline of) August 31, however, also means that Government must move fast to review some of the recommendations that are otherwise certain to have a catastrophic impact on the industry and on tariffs for the common man. Issues on which there is already an industry consensus can be resolved very quickly," Uninor said .

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