The Supreme Court has permitted Bharti Airtel to continue providing 3G services in the seven circles in which it does not have licenses through inter-state roaming pacts. However, the Court has disallowed the operator from enrolling new subscribers in these circles.
The court has also issued notices to all the stakeholders involved to present their views on the matter before the court within the next four weeks. The matter has been listed for hearing on May 9, 2013.
The Supreme Court’s decision comes after the Delhi High Court vacated a stay on a Department of Telecommunication’ (DoT) order asking the operator to pay a penalty of Rs 3.5 billion. DoT also asked the operator to stop offering 3G services in circles where it does not hold 3G licences.
DoT’s directives came in the wake of Reliance Communications’ claim that it had suffered losses of up to Rs 50 billion because of operators offering 3G services in the circles where they did not hold 3G licences. Subsequently, a High Court division bench on April 4, 2013 vacated a single order allowing Bharti Airtel to continue its 3G services in the Haryana, Kolkata, Uttar Pradesh (East), Maharashtra, Goa, Gujarat, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh circles.
