PM's meeting on 2G licences today

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is likely to to meet senior ministers on Saturday to discuss and review the rules that will apply in case of the auction of the 2G spectrum.

Singh is likely to consider whether to cancel the 2G licences that were given to telecom majors before 2008, media reports said.

A number of licences were granted to telecom majors like Tata and Bharti-Airtel for free during that period.

The impetus behind the move is to set a level playing field for all operators who will have bid afresh for licenses after a historic verdict by the Supreme Court quashed all licenses issued during a sale in 2008.

The apex court on Feb 2 had ordered all 122 telecoms licences issued under the scandal-tainted 2008 sale be revoked, delivering a decisive blow against a government that has been grappling to leave behind the fiasco that has roiled the nation for more than a year.

The landmark verdict, that sent ripples through business and political establishments in the country for its unprecedented retroactive ambit, was seen as a blow to foreign investor confidence besides turning the heat back on a scam-battered coalition government.

Ex-telecoms minister A Raja, the alleged mastermind of the scam, is now lodged in jail pending trial for selling cellphone spectrum to companies at below-market rates in lieu of kickbacks, in a sale process that could have cost the treasury as much Rs 1.76 lakh crore.