100 Mn Mobile Users To Face Network Congestion

• Call Drop. The Supreme Court cancelled 122 telecom licenses issued to eight companies in 2008, calling the allocation “arbitrary, capricious and contrary to public interest.” The ruling will go into effect in four months, after which new licenses for spectrum allocation will be auctioned. Companies affected, like Loop Telecom, Etisalat, Tata Teleservices and Idea, can continue to do business, but will have to bid for new licenses under new rules. [Hindustan Times, The Wall Street Journal]

• Cell Congestion. With the Supreme Court’s ruling on 2G licenses, you can expect around 100 million cell phone users in Mumbai and other parts of Maharashtra to face congestion in network, with more than 10 million estimated to switch over to other service providers in the next six months. The city has 13 cell phone operators, of which licences of about seven are likely to get cancelled. [The Times of India]

• TB Toll. Tuberculosis claimed the lives of more than 9,000 people in Mumbai in 2010-2011, a rise of nearly 10 per cent over the previous year’s mortality figures. TB topped the list of killer diseases in 2010-2011, taking 25 lives a day. Experts say it’s a failure of the healthcare system to curb the disease. [The Times of India]