Ravi Shakar Prasad accepts DoT proposal on 3G intra-circle roaming

To seek legal opinion on TDSAT order allowing 3G services in circles where operators haven't required spectrum

Communications and IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, who is also the Law minister, has approved the proposal of the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) for seeking legal opinion from the Law Officer on the suitability of filing an appeal in the Supreme Court against the order given by the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) that has permitted telecom operators to offer 3G services even in circles where they haven't required spectrum.

According to a recentcommunication, the DoT will have to file the appeal in the SC within 90 daysfrom the TDSAT order that came on April 29. The DoT had earlier in 2011 banned 3G intra-circle roaming, an arrangement between operators to offer 3G servicesthrough roaming agreements to offer 3G services in circles where they do nothave 2,100 MHz spectrum.

If the DoT finally moves theSupreme Court, companies like Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular, willagain be restricted to offer 3G services in limited circles where they had bought3G spectrum. Bharti Airtel has 3G spectrum in 13 of the 22 telecom circles,while Vodafone has it in nine and Idea Cellular in 11.

Based on the TDSAt ruling, RelianceCommunications (RCom) has last week entered into a 3G ICR agreement with Aircelto extend 3G services in 18 of the 22 circles.The DoT had also imposed acumulative penalty of Rs 1,200 crore on three operators - Bharti Airtel,Vodafone Indiaand Idea Cellular which the TDSAT has quashed in its order.

According to earlierdiscussions of the DoT, 2G licencees can not provide 3G services and cannotacquire subscribers for 3G services by way of roaming facilities. Operatorswould need separate licences for offering 3G services.The Telecom RegulatoryAuthority of India (Trai) has also held that 2G licencees cannot provide 3Gservices, according to the communication.

By way of intra-circle roaming, itfurther stated, operators are acting as mobile virtual network operator (MVNO),which is not permissible.On the other hand, The DoT's draft guidelines on spectrum sharing have noted that telecom operators, havingthird-generation (3G) spectrum licences, will not be permitted to sharespectrum among themselves.

An earlier order had disallowed the companies fromacquiring new subscribers in the circles where they did not possess 3Gspectrum, causing a 30% reduction in their data revenues, according toindustry estimates.