SC notice to Vodafone, Airtel on 3G intra-circle roaming pact

The Supreme Court on Monday issued notices to Airtel, Idea and Vodafone, which were permitted to offer 3G services in areas where not all of them own 3G spectrum.

The court admitted the appeal of DoT against the TDSAT judgement that had allowed 3G intra-circle roaming. TDSAT had overturned government’s ban on offering 3G mobile services beyond their licensed zones via pacts.

It had held that it was in national interest to allow better utilisation of radio frequency.

This had brought relief to the firms, which faced a Rs 1,200 crore penalty for entering into pacts to offer 3G services in regions where they did not win spectrum in the 2010 auction.