Telecom operator Uninor has shut down its operations in Mumbai, following a Supreme Court order last week which directed all operators who did not win spectrum in the November auctions to close down services immediately. However unlike its shutdown in other circles like Kolkata and West Bengal circles, where the operator was able to give prior service termination notices to subscribers and allow them to port out of the network, this shutdown was quite immediate, thereby affecting all Uninor subscribers in Mumbai. The company had 1.84 million (pdf) subscribers in Mumbai as of December 2012. Uninor MD Sigve Brekke attributed this immediate shutdown to a lack of temporary license to wind down its operations in an orderly fashion and allow customers to port out to other networks. He claimed that they had pursued every alternative possible to continue its Mumbai operations until the new spectrum auction takes place, however they are forced to comply with the Supreme Court order which has ordered an immediate closure of operations. The company however noted that it would be signing roaming agreements with other operators to ensure Uninor customers get seamless connectivity when travelling to Mumbai. In November 2012, Telenor group had tied up with Lakshdeep Investments & Finance to create a new joint venture Telewings Communications which had participated in the 2G spectrum auction and secured 24 blocks of spectrum in 6 of its best performing circles including Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Maharashtra, UP East and UP West, for a total of Rs 4,018.28 crore. While the company had scaled down its operations in other circles, it had continued its…
