RCom, Tata get relief as High Court dismisses dual technology petition

The Delhi High Court today provided relief to Reliance Communications and Tata Teleservices when it dismissed a petition filed by rival mobile telephone service operators that had sought to block their entry into GSM mobile services.

Both Reliance Communications and Tata Teleservices had started out with CDMA services but subsequently wanted to expand into the more popular GSM space.

Over two-thirds of the country’s 30 million mobile phone users are on the GSM platform. The average revenue per GSM user is about 30 per cent higher than that of a CDMA user.

Bharti Airtel, Vodafone-Essar, Idea Cellular, Spice Telecom and their lobby group, the Cellular Operators’ Association of India (COAI), had challenged the government’s decision to allow these two companies to use both CDMA and GSM technology platforms for their services.

Earlier, the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal had struck down a similar plea filed by COAI, after which it had, together with other operators, approached the Delhi High Court. The verdict today was pronounced by Justice Gita Mittal, who also imposed a Rs 50,000 fine on each petitioner.

At present, there is a scramble amongst mobile telephone service operators that use the GSM platforms for more spectrum, the radio frequencies that enable wireless communications, to expand their networks.

India is the world’s fastest-growing market for mobile services and adds roughly six million customers every month. Unless they get additional spectrum, these companies fear congestion on the existing network could check their growth.

Today’s matter could complicate matters further for them, though it will help Reliance Communications and Tata Teleservices to roll out their GSM services quickly.

While TV Ramachandran, the director general of COAI, refused to comment on today’s court decision, the Association of Unified Telecom Service Providers of India welcomed it.

“It allows the government policy to be carried out smoothly, and opens up the market for more operators, which ultimately will benefit the consumer,” said Secretary General SC Khanna.