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| India court cancels 122 telecom licences | India court cancels 122 telecom licences |
| (40 minutes later) | |
| India's Supreme Court has cancelled 122 telecommunications licences awarded to companies in 2008. | India's Supreme Court has cancelled 122 telecommunications licences awarded to companies in 2008. |
| The licences were issued by former minister A Raja, who is accused of mis-selling bandwidth in what has been called India's biggest corruption scandal. Mr Raja denies wrongdoing. | The licences were issued by former minister A Raja, who is accused of mis-selling bandwidth in what has been called India's biggest corruption scandal. Mr Raja denies wrongdoing. |
| Government auditors say the scandal cost the country about $40bn (£24.5bn). | Government auditors say the scandal cost the country about $40bn (£24.5bn). |
| The judges ordered a court to decide whether Home Minister P Chidambaram should also be investigated. | The judges ordered a court to decide whether Home Minister P Chidambaram should also be investigated. |
| Opposition MPs accuse Mr Chidambaram of failing to prevent the scandal when he was finance minister. He denies any wrongdoing. | Opposition MPs accuse Mr Chidambaram of failing to prevent the scandal when he was finance minister. He denies any wrongdoing. |
| Mr Raja is currently on trial for fraud. | |
| 'Unfair' | |
| "Licences after January 2008 are quashed [cancelled]. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India will make fresh allocations by auction," Justice GS Singhvi told the court. | |
| Petitioner Prashant Bhushan called it a "historic judgement". | |
| "It will change the manner in which corruption will be examined and dealt with in the country," he said. | |
| Reports said some of the companies impacted by the court order include Loop, Videocon, Idea Cellular, Tata Telecom, Uninor and Swan. | |
| Uninor, the Indian joint venture of Norway's Telenor, said it had been "unfairly treated" and "was shocked" by the court verdict, reports Reuters. | |
| "We will study the order in detail and exercise all options available to ensure that Uninor continues to operate in India," the agency quoted from a company statement. | |
| India is one of the world's fastest growing markets for mobile telephones with 800 million connections. |