Return licence fees if roaming pacts are illegal: Top telcos to DoT

Telecom operators Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Essar, Idea Cellular and Tata Teleservices have demanded 3G licence fees be returned, if intra-circle roaming pacts are considered illegal.

In a letter to telecom minister Kapil Sibal, top executives of these companies said they were assured by the department of telecommunications (DoT) that such pacts were allowed.

“Bidding in the 3G auction took place on the clear understanding that such agreements are legal and permissible. Any determination of now that this might not be the case, would fundamentally alter the legal and economic basis on which the business case for 3G bids were evaluated,” stated the letter.

The letter was signed by Sanjay Kapoor, Bharti Airtel’s chief executive for India and South Asia, Himanshu Kapania, managing director of Idea Cellular, Srinath N, Tata Teleservices’ managing director, and Vodafone India’s managing director and chief executive, Marten Pieters.

The move came after DoT claimed such pacts could not be allowed. The government raised Rs 67,710 crore through the 3G auction. After 34 days of competitive bidding as bids reached unexpected levels, none of these companies managed to bag licences for all 22 circles.

The top three companies, Airtel, Vodafone and Idea, have signed a pact to mutually provide 3G services on roaming. Calling these pacts unlawful was extraordinary and baseless, they said, adding this “flood of confusion” was raising concerns. “This has already generated a flow of questions from worried investors and has confused customers in whose interest we have undertaken the activity,” the companies said.

In the letter, the companies quoted DoT’s answer to the operators regarding roaming: “The roaming policy is applicable to the licences and not to the specific spectrum bands. Hence, roaming will be permitted.”