The Telecom Dispute Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) restrained the Department of Telecom (DoT) from eliminating the 3G roaming pacts inked between mobile operators.
TDSAT has asked the operators to submit the 3G roaming pacts they signed amongst themselves. The case?s next hearing is on January 3, 2012.
Prior to this, DoT had issued a notice to Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Essar and Idea Cellular to terminate the 3G roaming pacts inked amongst themselves and had asked all three operators to respond within 24 hours.
After several months of debate, Kapil Sibal, Minister of Telecommunications and IT, concluded that such roaming agreements violated licence norms and operators cannot be permitted to offer services in this manner.
Sibal?s decision came after the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and the Ministry of Law and Justice agreed that such pacts were illegal.
This decision did not go down well with the operators, who said that DoT?s decision was retrograde, irrational and illegal.
In a statement, Bharti Airtel said, that it was shocked at the retrograde decision and warned that it will take ?appropriate recourse to protect its rights.?
Similarly, Idea Cellular issued a statement saying that it was dismayed and shocked by the government’s decision, which, it added, would adversely impact investor sentiment.
