Sistema can now start legal proceedings against Indian govt: SSTL
Press Trust of India | Updated On: September 10, 2012 21:00 (IST)
SSTL today said its partner Russia's Sistema is now "technically" empowered to start legal proceedings against India under BIPA to protect its investment in its telecom JV which has lost its 21 licences.
"We are not (in a) position to give any deadline to government (of India) but if we don't have response in due time, we have to act. Legal constraint was one (reason) we couldn't start the proceedings against government earlier than six months after the notice. Now, technically we can start legal proceedings anytime," SSTL's President and CEO Vsevolod Rozanov said. Sistema, which holds around 56.68 per cent stake in Sistema Shyam Teleservices Ltd (SSTL), had served legal notice under Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (BIPA) in February."It is our decision, we can start today, tomorrow or after five years. There is no legal restriction now," Rozanov said.
The Supreme Court had in February this year held that the process of allocating 122 2G licences, including 21 to SSTL, was 'arbitrary' and 'unconstitutional' and had canceled all the mobile permits.
In its notice, Sistema had said that in case the dispute (regarding 2G issue) is not settled amicably through conciliation by August 28, 2012, it reserves the right to commence proceedings against India on the basis of any applicable inter-governmental investment treaty.
Rozanov today said the Indian government has expressed its willingness to resolve the issue amicably but SSTL is yet to see "specifics" of the proposed solution. Meanwhile, SSTL today stuck to its demand of keeping the minimum price of airwaves for pan-India CDMA services at Rs. 1,658 crore.The Cabinet has already approved a minimum price of Rs. 18,200 crore for 5 Mhz spectrum in 800 Mhz being used for CDMA services.Rozanov reiterated that SSTL does not find any business case at the "high" price for 800 Mhz spectrum."We invested more than USD 3 billion and we are running cash out of USD 15 million approximately a month. We are yet to make any profit and in this respect (regulatory constraints) the prospect of profit is very very remote.Internally, we are struggling to justify this price," he said. When asked if company would like to bid for airwaves in 1,800 Mhz frequency band which is being used for GSM services, Rozanov said "It will be even worse. To start greenfield operations from year and half from now, we will not create even remotely possible positive business case. Extremely unlikely."
SSTL, which nationally operates its telecom services under the MTS brand, earlier today said its loss has widended to Rs. 1,180.1 crore for the April-June quarter, mainly due to fall in rupee against the US dollar."The forex loss during the quarter were around Rs. 375 crore," SSTL Chief Financial Officer Sergey Savchenko said.
http://profit.ndtv.com/news/corporates/article-sistema-can-now-start-legal-proceedings-against-india-310609?pfrom=home-latest
"We are not (in a) position to give any deadline to government (of India) but if we don't have response in due time, we have to act. Legal constraint was one (reason) we couldn't start the proceedings against government earlier than six months after the notice. Now, technically we can start legal proceedings anytime," SSTL's President and CEO Vsevolod Rozanov said. Sistema, which holds around 56.68 per cent stake in Sistema Shyam Teleservices Ltd (SSTL), had served legal notice under Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (BIPA) in February."It is our decision, we can start today, tomorrow or after five years. There is no legal restriction now," Rozanov said.
The Supreme Court had in February this year held that the process of allocating 122 2G licences, including 21 to SSTL, was 'arbitrary' and 'unconstitutional' and had canceled all the mobile permits.
In its notice, Sistema had said that in case the dispute (regarding 2G issue) is not settled amicably through conciliation by August 28, 2012, it reserves the right to commence proceedings against India on the basis of any applicable inter-governmental investment treaty.
Rozanov today said the Indian government has expressed its willingness to resolve the issue amicably but SSTL is yet to see "specifics" of the proposed solution. Meanwhile, SSTL today stuck to its demand of keeping the minimum price of airwaves for pan-India CDMA services at Rs. 1,658 crore.The Cabinet has already approved a minimum price of Rs. 18,200 crore for 5 Mhz spectrum in 800 Mhz being used for CDMA services.Rozanov reiterated that SSTL does not find any business case at the "high" price for 800 Mhz spectrum."We invested more than USD 3 billion and we are running cash out of USD 15 million approximately a month. We are yet to make any profit and in this respect (regulatory constraints) the prospect of profit is very very remote.Internally, we are struggling to justify this price," he said. When asked if company would like to bid for airwaves in 1,800 Mhz frequency band which is being used for GSM services, Rozanov said "It will be even worse. To start greenfield operations from year and half from now, we will not create even remotely possible positive business case. Extremely unlikely."
SSTL, which nationally operates its telecom services under the MTS brand, earlier today said its loss has widended to Rs. 1,180.1 crore for the April-June quarter, mainly due to fall in rupee against the US dollar."The forex loss during the quarter were around Rs. 375 crore," SSTL Chief Financial Officer Sergey Savchenko said.
http://profit.ndtv.com/news/corporates/article-sistema-can-now-start-legal-proceedings-against-india-310609?pfrom=home-latest
1 comment:
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