Russian group Sistema has urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to support and intervene to ensure that its legitimate interests are not disregarded during the formation of the telecom sector policies.

"I ask for your support and intervention to ensure that the legitimate interests of SSTL and its stakeholders are not disregarded during the formation of the telecom sector policies," Sistema Chairman Vladimir Evtushenkov said in a letter to the Prime Minister.

He said SSTL's shareholders have invested over USD three billion to create a CDMA network and has more than 16 million users adding that the company invested with a long-term view and to date have incurred billions of dollars in losses.

SSTL, in which the Russian government also has a stake of 17.14 per cent, offers CDMA services in the country under the MTS brand name.

He said that if SSTL’s licences are re-instated, it will reduce the losses to the investments made by the company and its owners in the Indian telecom industry. The company lost its 21 spectrum licences following the supreme court’s February 2 verdict.

Evtushenkov is as part of a delegation led by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin which is visiting India on Tuesday. The issue of cancellation of licences is likely to come up for discussions.

He said that the reserve price for spectrum auction, proposed by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) "arbitrarily high".