India to act against some telcos next week

NEW DELHI: India's telecoms ministry is likely to announce as early as Monday action against telecoms firms who violated rules, the Times of India said.

The paper said the government was expected to take a view on a state auditor's report that several ineligible firms had won licenses in 2008 in a multi-billion scandal that has led to the resignation of the telecoms minister.

The government is also examining the telecoms regulator's proposal that the administration revoke the licenses of firms found to have violated the rules guiding the roll-out of services, the newspaper said without saying where it received the information.

A senior government source, when contacted by Reuters, said the telecoms ministry was looking into the issues "very seriously". But the official said it was unlikely that any announcement would be made on Monday.

India may have lost up to $39 billion in the scandal involving the sale of licenses and allocation of spectrum, the audit report said. The licenses were given too cheaply and rules were flouted in the process, it said.