DoT denies Tata Tele's conditional spectrum surrender

DoT has asked the company to return spectrum unconditionally, to pay up for holding spectrum for a quarter

The ‘conditional’ return of the excess Tata Teleservices spectrum the company held back from the government hasn’t found many takers. In an internal discussion, Department of Telecommunications (DoT) officials opined the telecom firm should return the spectrum unconditionally and make a payment for holding the spectrum for a quarter.

Last month, the operator said it would surrender CDMA spectrum in all circles, excluding Delhi and Mumbai “under protest” to the government’s move to ask companies to pay for the excess spectrum they held.

DoT is known to have replied to the company, asking it to furnish a request to surrender 1.25 MHz of spectrum “without any condition”. It also asked the company to justify the 120-day time frame it had sought.

“The conditional request for surrender of spectrum by TTSL (Tata Teleservices) in all circles except Mumbai and Delhi may not be acceptable till we receive a clear request for surrender,” the department said.

Tata Teleservices declined to comment. On the court cases Tata Teleservices filed in the Bombay and Kolkata high courts, DoT said, “We make action as proposed, subject to legal advice.”