S Tel Private Limited was a

GSM The Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) is a standard developed by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) to describe the protocols for second-generation ( 2G) digital cellular networks used by mobile devices such ...

based cellular operator in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. It was owned jointly by Chinakannan Sivasankaran. (51%) and Bahrain Telecommunications (49%). On 2 February 2012 Supreme Court of India cancelled all 122 spectrum licences granted during the tenure of former communications minister A Raja. Six licences of S Tel were cancelled, and

Batelco BTC is the primary telecommunications provider for the Bahamas, headquartered in Nassau, New Providence. It is partly government owned and offers telephone, internet and wireless services. BTC is an initialism for the Bahamas Telecommunications ...

sold its stake in S Tel. The sale was completed in late 2012.

Controversy

License cancelled by Supreme Court

On 2 February 2012, The

Supreme Court of India The Supreme Court of India ( IAST: ) is the supreme judicial authority of India and is the highest court of the Republic of India under the constitution. It is the most senior constitutional court, has the final decision in all legal matters ...

cancelled all 122 spectrum licences granted during the tenure of former communications minister A Raja, including the 6 licenses granted to S Tel. The

also imposed a fine of 50 lakh on S Tel.

Batelco sells stake

On 8 February 2012, a few days after The Supreme Court ruling, Batelco sold its 42.7% share of S Tel to Sky City Foundation Ltd of India for 65.8 million Bahraini dinar (US$174.5 million). Batelco's Group Chief Executive Shaikh Mohamed bin Isa Al Khalifa said in a statement, "BMIC Limited, a 100 per cent Batelco-owned subsidiary company, entered into an agreement, in the fourth quarter of 2011 to sell its 42.7 per cent stake in S Tel for USD 174.5 million to its Indian partner, Sky City Foundation Limited". The sale was to be completed by the end of October 2012.

Current status

S Tel services is no longer available in India following the cancellation of its six UAS licenses on 17 February 2012. On 29 February 2012 it was reported that S Tel boss Sivasankaran wrote to

Manmohan Singh Manmohan Singh (; born 26 September 1932) is an Indian politician, economist and statesman who served as the 13th prime minister of India from 2004 to 2014. He is also the third longest-serving prime minister after Jawaharlal Nehru and Indir ...

, former Prime Minister of India, demanding Rs. 1700 Crore investment while offering to surrender its licenses.

References

External links

* {{Telecommunication companies of India Telecommunications companies of India Mobile phone companies of India Companies based in Gurgaon Defunct brands Telecommunications companies established in 2008 Telecommunications companies disestablished in 2012 Indian companies established in 2008 Indian companies disestablished in 2012 2008 establishments in Haryana