Our application doesn146;t compete with Idea: Birlas

In the midst of a spat with Tatas over stakeholding in their joint venture Idea, Birlas have informed the government that their own telecom ...

In the midst of a spat with Tatas over stakeholding in their joint venture Idea, Birlas have informed the government that their own telecom application for licence in Mumbai in 8220;no way competes8221; with the Idea8217;s.

8220;We clarify that the Aditya Birla telecom application in no way competes with the Idea application,8221; Sanjeev Aga, director and chief financial officer of Aditya Birla Nuvo Ltd ABNL, said in a communication to the Department of Telecom DoT on February 22.

The ABNL communication, which questions non-compliance of Tatas to licensing conditions and seeks direction from the government for their immediate exit from Idea, says 8220;the Idea application pre-dates the Aditya Birla telecom application8221;.

8220;The Idea application will be disposed of one way or the other, independent of the Aditya Birla application,8221; it said.

Interestingly, in the same letter, ABNL analysed the licence conditions for the ouster of Tatas from Idea saying 8220;it is totally inconsistent with the National Telecom Policy that a business group, while maintaining its own telecom operations, should first build and continue for two years with impermissible holdings in another competing company.8221;

According to Birlas, the central purpose of the cited licence conditions is that 8220;competition is not compromised8221;.

ABNL said in its letter that 8220;hypothetically, if the Idea application were to be accepted, then in any case Aditya Birla Telecom would become ineligible and would gladly withdraw their application. In the event, the DoT concludes that the Idea application cannot be maintained, then the Aditya Birla Telecom application must be considered on its merit,8221; it said.

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At the same time, Birlas feel that the Tata group, which is itself operating a unified licence in Mumbai through Tata Teleservices Maharashtra, is the direct cause for the likely rejection of the Idea application.

8220;Still it Tatas raises questions about the Aditya Birla Telecom application,8221; ABNL wondered and said 8220;this is another example of the Tata group8217;s impermissible holdings in multiple licenses compromising competition, stifling idea, blocking investment in the sector and depriving the government of revenue by way of entry fee and revenue share licence fee.8221;

Tatas are expected to address issues raised by Birlas and send a communication to the government in a day or two before the DoT takes a position on the controversial issue that has seen two top corporate houses coming face to face.

Communications minister Dayanidhi Maran has already said the issue was being looked into without elaborating.