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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
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| India court cancels 122 telecom licences | India court cancels 122 telecom licences |
| (about 1 hour 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 also ordered a court to decide whether Home Minister P Chidambaram should 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. | Mr Raja is currently on trial for fraud. |
| India is one of the world's fastest growing markets for mobile telephones with 893 million connections. | |
| Reports say Thursday's verdict is likely to affect about 5% of connections used by mobile phone customers. | |
| India's telecom regulator says the affected subscribers can be transferred to other mobile operators. | |
| Correspondents say the ruling is a setback for the government which has been hit by a series of corruption scandals in recent months. | |
| 'Unfair' | '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. | "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". | 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. | "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 affected 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. | |
| "We will study the order in detail and exercise all options available to ensure that Uninor continues to operate in India," the company said in a statement. | |
| "We also expect the authorities to ensure that our 36 million customers, 17,500 workforce and 22,000 partners are not unjustly affected," the statement said. | |
| The court ruling is a source of further embarrassment for the government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh which has been hit by several high-profile corruption cases in recent month. | |
| "We will examine the judgement and its implications," Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee told reporters. | |
| As soon as the verdict was announced, opposition parties began calling for Mr Chidambaram to resign on "moral grounds". | |
| Opposition MP Subramanian Swamy alleges that decisions over the price of telecoms licences were taken jointly by Mr Chidambaram and Mr Raja. | |
| He says Mr Chidambaram as finance minister could have prevented Mr Raja from allocating bandwidth on a "first-come-first-served" basis. | |
| The government says Mr Swamy's allegations are politically motivated. |