Indian regulator Trai has called for the cancellation of 38 carrier licenses, including those held by Aircel, Etisalat and Telenor, for breaches of license conditions.
Junior Telecoms Minister Sachin Pilot told Indian upper house legislators that the regulator is also probing another 31 licenses in the wake of the country’s 2G spectrum scandal.
Former telecom minister Andimuthu Raja was forced to resign last month for directly allocating 157 2G licenses to operators instead of selling spectrum by auction, reportedly forfeiting as much as $39 billion (€29.4 billion) in government revenue.
Licenses held by Aircel, Allianz Infratech, Etisalat, Loop Telecom, Sistema and Videocon will come under further scrutiny, Pilot said.
Operators were last week given 60 days to explain to the Department of Telecom why their licenses should not be revoked.
The government has appointed a former Supreme Court judge to probe all spectrum allocations since 2G frequencies were handed out in 2001.