S-Tel, seems to be one of the first telecom operators to pull the plug post the supreme court verdict on 2G licenses. The company has been amongst the telecom operators impacted by the supreme court ruling earlier in Feb 2012, related to cancellation of 122 telecom licenses issued on or after January 10, 2008.
S-Tel, was a partnership between Batelco (Bahrain Telecommunications Company) and Siva Group (Started in 1986 by Mr. C Sivasankaran). The company has operations in Assam, Jharkhand, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Orissa and J&K.
After the supreme court verdict, Batelco had announced that it would be selling its stake in S-Tel to its Indian partners. It is now learnt, that S-Tel, would be shutting down operations – considering “unviability” of the project. The company has presence in six circles. It is reported that the company is not keen on participating in the fresh 2G auctions. The decision to shut operations may impact about 3.5 million customers. This move would also lead to layoff’s of its team, that’s estimated to be about 400 employees.
It would be interesting to note that Sivasankaran was one of the pioneers in Indian Telecom, as founder of Aircel. Aircel was subsequently sold to Maxis of Malaysia. S-Tel, was his comeback to Telecom.
For those interested, you may want to refer to our earlier post related to the supreme court verdict and its impact on Telecom Operators:
Batelco (Bahrain Telecom) selling its stake in S-Tel to Indian partners.