Videocon Telecommunications Limited, formerly Videocon Mobile Services, was an Indian cellular service provider that offered

GSM The Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) is a family of standards to describe the protocols for second-generation (2G) digital cellular networks, as used by mobile devices such as mobile phones and Mobile broadband modem, mobile broadba ...

mobile services in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

under the brand name Videocon. The company was a subsidiary of the Videocon Group, and was headquartered at

Gurgaon Gurgaon (), officially named Gurugram (), is a satellite city of Delhi and administrative headquarters of Gurgaon district, located in the northern Indian state of Haryana. It is situated near the Delhi–Haryana border, about southwest ...

Haryana Haryana () is a States and union territories of India, state located in the northern part of India. It was carved out after the linguistic reorganisation of Punjab, India, Punjab on 1 November 1966. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with les ...

. Videocon launched its services on 7 April 2010 in

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

. At its peak, Videocon held licences to provide mobile services in 18 out of 22 telecom circles of India. However, Videocon launched commercial services only in 11 out of the 18 circles it held licences in. Following the

2G spectrum case The 2G spectrum case was a political controversy in which politicians and private officials of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) coalition government India were allegedly involved in selling or allotting 122 2G spectrum licenses on conditi ...

, the Supreme Court cancelled 122 licences issued by the Indian Government in 2008, including 21 licences belonging to Videocon. In the 2012 spectrum auction, Videocon won back licences in 6 circles.Videocon To Shut Down GSM Operations in 11 Circles Including Mumbai, Asks Customers To Port Out Before 18 January
TelecomTalk.info On 16 March 2016, Videocon sold its spectrum in all six circles it operated in to

Bharti Airtel Bharti Airtel Limited is an Indian Multinational corporation, multinational Telecommunications in India, telecommunications company based in New Delhi. It operates in 18 countries across South Asia and Africa, as well as the Channel Islands. ...

. Videocon shut down its network and discontinued operations in the Gujarat and UP (West) circles on 26 December 2015, and in the Haryana, Madhya Pradhesh, Bihar and UP (East) circles on 11 May 2016.

Sale of spectrum

In November 2015, Videocon entered into an agreement with Idea Cellular Ltd. to sell its spectrum in Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh (West) for . By March 2016, Airtel offered to purchase spectrum in all six circles in which Videocon operated for . Videocon had been looking to exit the telecom sector for some time, and on 16 March 2016, Airtel announced that it had entered into a definitive agreement with Videocon (subject to standard regulatory approvals) to purchase 2 x 5 MHz spectrum in the 1800 MHz Band in all six circles that Videcon had been allotted by the government. On 24 May 2016, Airtel announced that the deal had successfully been completed.

Operations in Punjab

Videocon's operations in the Punjab circle are run through its wholly owned subsidiary Quadrant Televentures Ltd (formerly HFCL Infotel). Quadrant's holdings were not a part of the sale to Airtel, and the company continues to offer GSM mobile services in Punjab. Quadrant also offers broadband and fixed line services in Punjab under its Connect Broadband brand. In January 2017, Quadrant informed its three million subscribers that the company would cease mobile services in Punjab from 15 February 2017, and requested them to switch to other mobile network operators. In response, TRAI ordered Quadrant to surrender its Unified Access Service License (UASL) for the Punjab telecom circle. On 8 February, Quadrant informed TRAI that it could not surrender its licence as the company was only shutting down mobile services and would continue to offer wired internet services in Punjab. On 14 February, TRAI barred Quadrant from suspending its mobile services, and ordered the company to ensure continuity of service for its subscribers until its UASL for Punjab expires on 30 September 2017. Quadrant has currently requested all of its mobile subscribers to port out of the network by midnight on 18 April 2017.

Controversy

In 2012, the Supreme Court revoked Videocon’s 15 telecom licenses pertaining to the allocation of

. On December 21, 2017, the

Central Bureau of Investigation The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is the domestic crime investigating agency of India. It operates under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions. Originally set up to investigate bribery and gover ...

court exonerated all the accused, including the former telecom minister A. Raja, in the 2008 2G spectrum case.

References

External links

* {{Telecommunication companies of India Videocon Mobile phone companies of India Telecommunications companies of India Companies based in Gurgaon Telecommunications companies established in 2008 Telecommunications companies disestablished in 2016 2008 establishments in Haryana Indian companies disestablished in 2016 Indian companies established in 2008