Supreme Court dismisses plea for cancelling Jio's 4G licence

The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a plea by NGO Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL) seeking cancellation of Reliance Jio's 4G licence on several grounds.An apex court bench comprising Chief Justice T.S. Thakur, Justice A.K. Sikri and Justice R. Banumathi while dismissing the plea by the NGO CPIL left the matter on spectrum user charges to the government.The NGO CPIL has contended that Reliance Jio Was given 4G licence for data services and not for voice telephony which it was permitted latter. The judgement was pronounced by Justice Sikri.According to a recent report, a top global financial services firm, UBS, said while soft launch was expected by the end of this month, the full commercial offering was expected by December.The report said Jio was expected to initially roll-out bundled 4G offering on a limited basis with LYF-branded devices — as also SIM sale on standalone basis — only in the second half of 2016, even as all the market leaders have already launched theirs. Airtel was the first to launch 4G giving it a significant first-mover advantage with footprint in 15 circles, Idea started in 575 towns across its 10 circles, while Vodafone is has a presence in five circles.With inputs from IANS