April 8, 2016 by admin

SC dismisses plea for cancelling Reliance Jio’s 4G licence

New Delhi, The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a PIL seeking a CBI/SIT probe into the alleged scam in the allocation of 4G spectrum to Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd (RJIL) of Mukesh Ambani.
The petitioner had contended that the government had allowed the “back-door” entry of the company into voice telephony without any auction and in violation of the Supreme Court verdict in 2012 cancelling the 2G licenses given in 2008 at 2001 prices.
Arguing for the petitioner, CPIL, advocate Prashant Bhushan had pleaded for quashing the government decision of March 2013 offering voice telephonic services to the company.
The Centre should be directed to levy spectrum usage charges (SUC) for 4G/BWA spectrum at par with other operators providing voice telephony, the petition had pleaded.
While other service providers were paying SUC at 3-5 per cent of their revenue depending on the quantum of spectrum they held, Reliance would pay just one per cent.
“This has not only disturbed the level-playing field and provided undue advantage to Reliance, but has also caused a huge loss of revenue to the government over the 20-year license period.” The petitioner had placed the loss at Rs 40,000 crore.