Paging, Cell Cos To Move Sc Against Ruling On Trai

Paging and cellular service providers are set to challenge a Delhi High Court ruling against the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

The paging companies are planning to file a special leave petition against the judgement in the Supreme Court, while cellular service providers are expected to file a review petition before a division bench of the High Court ruling "later this week or early next", according to industry sources.

Both the paging and cellular companies are believed to have signed up an impressive line-up of advocates to fight their cases. The paging providers have apparently roped in Arun Jaitley to argue for them and the cellular companies have got heavyweights like Fali Nariman, K Venugopal and Gopal Subramanium to argue their case.

On July 16, the High Court set aside a TRAI order that the department of telecommunications (DoT) could not exercise its licensing powers without the recommendations of the regulator. The court order vested DoT (or the government) with powers to overrule TRAI on licensing issues.

The order cleared the decks for the entry of private Internet service providers (ISPs) in the country and the cellular foray of Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL). The telecom PSU has set a target of March 1999 to provide cellular services in Delhi and Mumbai _ a target which is likely to be revised after the filing of these cases.

Earlier, on February 17, TRAI rejected MTNL's entry into the cellular services on the plea of private cellular operators and held that its recommendation was a condition precedent for the grant or revocation of licence or for laying down terms and conditions of a licence to be issued to any service provider.

In August, the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) and Hutchison Max Telecom filed a case against MTNL's entry into cellular services. COAI counsel Manjul Bajpai then contended that MTNL's cellular licence was issued without following any tendering process, was arbitrary and was a "gross abuse of powers by government ...resulting in procedural impropriety, irrationality and illegality".

Further, it was pointed out that the cellular licence only allowed for the "telecom authority" stepping into cellular telecom services. The Indian Telegraph Act, 1885, defines "telecom authority" as the secretary, DoT. MTNL is not the department, COAI petition points out, and therefore cannot be awarded the licence without a tendering process.

It was in violation of the telecom policy of 1994 and threatened the existence of private operators, he had pointed out. The operators apprehend that MTNL could use its interconnect revenues from four cellular operators in Delhi and Mumbai, which was Rs 136 crore in 1997-98, to subsidise its cellular service.