Vodafone India has cited an order by the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) to claim that the government cannot seek auction price for existing spectrum, say news reports.
Writing to the Telecom Commission and the empowered group of ministers (EGoM) on spectrum, the operator has stated that existing operators cannot be asked to pay a market-determined price for converting existing spectrum to technology-neutral licences for a period of 20 years, as per an order issued by the TDSAT.
The operator is opposing the EGoM?s recommendations on liberalisation of licence which allows operators to provide services using any technology platform by paying a fixed fee to the government.
In a separate development, TDSAT dismissed the operator?s petition challenging the clause in the draft guidelines on spectrum liberalisation in the upcoming auction.
TDSAT dismissed the petition on the ground that the recommendations were mere proposals at this stage. It suggested that the operator would have the option of challenging the rules once they were finalised.
