Dual-technology players are under the Department of Telecommunications? (DoT) scanner.
The issue was first raised by the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), who issued a statement emphasising on the alleged losses caused by such companies to the national exchequer. Thereafter, COAI asked the Supreme Court to step into the issue.
COAI asked the Court to withdraw the dual technology licences granted to Reliance Communications (RCOM), Tata Teleservices Limited (TTSL) and HFCL in 2007 and redistribute the spectrum entailed.
According to the industry body, these licences were mala fide, in context of the Supreme Court?s verdict in the 2G spectrum case which terminated 122 mobile permits.
Further, COAI?s petition stated that the government’s decision to grant dual-technology licences was illegal, since this fell between September 2007 and March 2008, the same time other mobile permits were given which were annulled by the Supreme Court.
In continuation of the issue, DoT?s licensing wing has reportedly said that data services being offered by these players do not fall under the scope of existing licences. In so far, these operators have been providing these services under the ?high speed data services? criteria and not 3G.
However, DoT?s licensing wing has said that EVDO is a 3G technology in the migration plan identified for CDMA operators.
Now, the core issue revolves around whether the operators can offer 3G services on existing CDMA spectrum.
