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| HC tells Idea, Voda not to add customers where they don’t have 3G | | |
New delhi: A day after the Supreme Court barred Bharti Airtel from permitting customers from using 3G services where it does not have licenses, the Delhi High court today asked Vodafone and Idea not to provide high speed internet services to customers in circles where they did not win 3G spectrum during the 2010 auction. The Delhi High Court will next hear Vodafone and Idea’s plea in the 3G intra-circle roaming pact case on 15 July. While directing the two telecom companies not to add new customers, the high court has asked the Centre not to take coercive steps against Vodafone and Idea majors which have been asked to pay penalty of Rs 550 crore and Rs 300 crore respectively for providing 3G services outside their circles without requisite licences. Senior advocates A M Singhvi and Maninder Singh, appearing for Idea Cellular and Vodafone respectively, sought the stay on the operation of DoT notices asking the telecom majors to pay the penalty and stop providing 3G services outside their licence areas by entering into intra-circle roaming pact with other telecom firms.
Distinguishing between the case of Bharti Cellular Ltd and that of Idea and Vodafone, Singhvi said, “In our case, no committee was constituted to hear us and not only the order of the division bench but the principle of natural justice was violated. Our case is different from that of Bharti Cellular Ltd.” Meanwhile, the court allowed the plea of another senior lawyer Mukul Rohatgi that Reliance Communication Ltd be impleaded as a party to the petitions filed by Vodafone and Idea Cellular. The Supreme Court had yesterday barred Bharti Airtel from extending intra-circle roaming facilities to new customers in circles where it does not have 3G licence till its final order, but allowed the telecom operator to continue existing operations. The apex court has also allowed Vodafone and Idea to be party to the 3G roaming case. While issuing directions against Bharti Airtel, the apex court had directed the Centre not to take any action against it. The apex court had yesterday restrained Bharti. Reuters
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) had on 15 March asked Airtel to terminate its 3G roaming pacts with other service providers — Vodafone and Idea Cellular— in seven circles in which it does not have licences to offer services. It had also fined Bharti Rs 350 crore for offering 3G services beyond permitted zones. The Department of Telecom had also issued notices to Vodafone India and Idea Cellular cancelling their intra-circle roaming agreements that allows telcos to offer 3G services in the circles where they do not have spectrum.
The top three operators—Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India and Idea Cellular—had signed pacts which allowed them to share 3G spectrum and offer services across each others’ circles, given that no operators had bought pan-India 3G spectrum in the 2010 auctions. While Bharti Airtel has 3G spectrum in 13 circles, Vodafone India owns spectrum in nine circles and Idea in 11 service areas.
What this means fundamentally, is that if a 3G subscriber moves to a different circle, where the operator does not have sufficient coverage, the subscriber can be routed automatically towards the network of another telecom operator (with whom the original operator shares the roaming agreement). But this agreement does not entitle the telecom operator to sell its services in a circle where it does not have a spectrum. However, Bharti Vodafone and Idea are doing exactly this by offering and marketing their services in circles where they do not have 3G spectrum. |
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