The telecom operators- Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular, Sistema Shyam Teleservices Limited (SSTL) and Reliance Telecom- have separately filed petitions against the various spectrum auction guidelines in different courts. Bharti Airtel has filed a case in the Karnataka High Court against the clause in the Notice Inviting Application (NIA) which makes the operator ineligible from bidding for any additional spectrum in the circles of Karnataka, Mumbai and Delhi as it has already surpassed the cap for holding spectrum in these areas.
In another move, Idea Cellular has filed a petition in the Allahabad High Court stating that the rules of the auctions scheduled in March 2015 would make it tougher for certain operators like itself in acquiring spectrum. The matter is likely to be heard in the court on February 18, 2015.
Reliance Telecom, a unit of Reliance Communications, has moved to the Delhi High Court to ask the government to increase the spectrum available for auction in the 1800 MHz band.
Meanwhile, SSTL has moved to Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal, asking the telecom tribunal to direct the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to make its spectrum holdings in the 800 MHz band contiguous.
Earlier, Bharti Airtel and Reliance Telecom had filed petitions in the Tripura High Court and won a ruling which allowed the two operators to bid for the entire amount of spectrum currently in their use, i.e. 4.4 MHz each, in the Northeast circle. According to the NIA, the operators are only allowed to bid for a minimum of 5 MHz in this circle.
Consequently, with many operators moving to court over the spectrum auction guidelines, there is a possibility of a delay in the sale of spectrum scheduled for March 4, 2015. In order to not extend the timeline of the upcoming auctions, DoT, at present, is weighing the various options available to pre-empt any operator from stalling the auctions. To this end, the telecom department has also sought opinion from the Law Ministry over the matter.
