TDSAT upholds telcos 3G intra-circle agreement,quashes fines

PTI Delhi Bureau

New Delhi, Apr 29 (PTI) In a major relief to Bharti
Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular, Telecom tribunal TDSAT
today upheld their plea to provide 3G intra-circle roaming
services, while also quashing the cumulative penalty of Rs
1,200 crore imposed on them by Department of Telecom.
     "We are allowing all the petitions," said a TDSAT bench
headed by Justice Aftab Alam.
      The bench said that 3G ICR agreement signed by Airtel,
Vodafone and Idea Cellular is not violative of licence
agreement.
     Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular had approached TDSAT
against Department of Telecom order to stop 3G intra-circle
roaming agreement under which they had also agreed to acquire
customers in area where they did not win spectrum.
    Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular won 3G spectrum in 2010
auction. Airtel won 3G spectrum in 13 out of 22 telecom
service area for Rs 12,295.46, Vodafone in 9 for Rs 11,617.86
and Idea Cellular in 11 circles for Rs 5,768.59 crore.
    DoT issued notice to Airtel, Vodafone and Idea on December
23, 2011 asking companies to stop 3G ICR within 24 hours and
report compliance but the order was challenged by telecom
operators.
     Tata Teleservices and Aircel too had signed 3G ICR but
immediately called off their agreement after DoT issued notice
to them.
    Airtel sought access to Vodafone's 3G network in four
service area- Maharashtra, Kolkata, Haryana and UP East.
    Vodafone accessed six 3G circles of Airtel- Assam, Bihar,
Karnataka, North East, Rajasthan and UP West besides 7 circles
of Idea Cellular- Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and
Kashmir, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, UP West and Punjab. Idea is
yet to start 3G service in Punjab.
    Under the agreement, Idea Cellular secured right to
provide 3G service using Vodafone's network in Delhi, Tamil
Nadu, Chennai and Kolkata.
    In July 2012, TDSAT gave split verdict where one of the
bench member ruled in favour and other member ordered against
it.
    DoT again issued notice to telecom operators asking them
to stop 3G ICR service along with penalty cumulatively
amounting to about Rs 1,200 crore which was quashed by the
tribunal.
    Telecom operators-Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular then
approached Delhi High Court which ruled in favour of DoT's
decision to hold the 3G roaming pact of the telecom major as
illegal.
    Telecom operators then moved the Supreme Court against
order of HC and sought that the case be transferred to TDSAT.
The Apex court allowed telecom operators to move their
case to TDSAT in September 2013.
        "TDSAT had recognised the stand of telecom operators on
the basis of which they made aggressive bids for 3G spectrum.
    "The judgement also benefits customers who will have more
choices now besides operators, who can now freely invest in
network coverage," Industry body Cellular Operators
Association of India Director General Rajan S Mathews told
PTI.
    He played down apprehension of the decision affecting
value of spectrum in future auction and selective bidding by
operators in some circles.
    "We know there is not enough spectrum available. Though
telecom operators may go for spectrum sharing or this kind of
agreement but everyone wants to be on drivers seat. If there
is level playing and spectrum auctions are made reasonable,
people will go for it," Mathews said.
    In 2010, there was no pan-India bidder for 3G auctions
while wireless broadband spectrum auctions held immediately
after this saw Infotel Broadband Services, now Reliance Jio
Infocomm, emerging as only pan-India winner.
    There had been no successful pan-India bidder during
spectrum auctions held in November 2012, March 2013 and
February 2014.
    Mathews sees possibility of 3G ICR kind of agreement with
other type of spectrum as well.
    "If a technology allows to deliver some kind of
benefits, I don't see it makes sense to put any obstacles in
efficient use of technology," Mathews added.