Tata Docomo, the company behind Tata Telecommunications has been forced to withdraw their service from the Indian-controlled area of Kashmir, after it was discovered that the airwaves the company were using were sold illegally.
The decision to ban the service came after India’s Supreme Court ruled that 122 2G services that were issued in 2008 were done so illegally. This means that Tata Communications, who provide their service on one of their frequencies, must halt their service in the area until they are re-auctioned. This means that many thousands of customers that live in the area will be without a service, until the situation is resolved.
This news has been filtered through to the customers in a company newsletter that read “Tata Teleservices is constrained to withdraw from Jammu and Kashmir with effect from Jan 18th, 2013 and as a result your (the customers) connection will be deactivated post Jan 18th 2013”.
Initially, when the Supreme Court had made the decision to withdraw the airwaves back in Feb 2012, Tata had instantly applied to have the service resumed. However, the company then withdraw their approach in Nov, leaving over 115,000 customers not knowing what service they should subscribe to next.
The matter of the airwaves is now set to be resolved by the Indian government.