Supreme Court extended Deadline for 2G Spectrum Auction

Supreme Court of India on 27 August 2012 extended the deadline for 2G spectrum auction and instructed the union government to carry out the auction by 11 January 2013. The court also allowed the mobile companies whose licences are set to be annulled to operate until 18 January 2013.

In its first, the union government is set to conduct an open auction of 2G mobile radio airwaves, after the apex court scrapped all 2G licences awarded to mobile companies, citing massive irregularity in the license distribution as the reason.

 The court had earlier ordered the government to carry out the radiowave auction by the end of August 2012and had ruled that the affected companies can operate on their existing licences until 7 September 2012. The government later urged the court to extend the deadline until 12 November 2012 to begin the auction and 40 days from the completion of auction to allocate frequencies. The government has said that it requires around two months to complete the entrire auction process.