The Delhi High Court has asked the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to respond to a petition challenging the 3G roaming services being offered by Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular and Vodafone Essar.
A section of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited?s (BSNL) union filed a writ petition alleging that the 3G roaming agreement between the three operators is tantamount to cartelisation. The Sanchar Nigam Executive Association has informed the court that the 3G roaming agreement distorted competition in the telecommunications sector at direct cost to other telecom companies.
The petition stated, ?The petitioner is challenging the illegal actions of the three private operators in providing 3G services in the circles where they have not been granted license. Respondent numbers 3 to 12 are using each others’ spectrum allocation to provide their services on the 3G band in the geographical regions that do not belong to them and respondent numbers one and two (DoT and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI)), who are responsible for checking such practices, are acting as silent spectators despite this issue being brought to their notice.?
The three players have inked an agreement whereby they are offering 3G services in circles where they do not have spectrum.
The current licence rules permit operators to opt for roaming agreements to allow users to get seamless coverage as they move from one circle to another. However, in the case of 3G services, operators are selling connections even where they do not have spectrum.
Prior to this, DoT?s Telecom Enforcement, Resource and Monitoring (TERM) cell of DoT had said that action must be taken against operators who have entered into such roaming deals, whereby a mobile operator without 3G spectrum is able to offer services. The Wireless Planning & Coordination wing, which is responsible for spectrum management, also termed the so-called roaming arrangement as illegal.
TRAI, in its report on the issue, said that such an arrangement was not only causing loss to the national exchequer but also affecting the quality of 3G services offered to consumers.
