3G roaming pacts: TDSAT verdict split

Justice Sinha allowed the telecom operators8217; plea against the government8217;s directive to stop intra circle 3G roaming saying that it was violative of natural justice.

Rastogi,however,dismissed telecom operators plea saying they cannot provide roaming.

The chairman was of view that the DoT had not followed the proper procedure and the operators were not given proper time to put their views.

According to Justice Sinha it was a violation of natural justice. Setting aside the DoT8217;s order to operators to stop ICR roaming,he asked DoT to start the procedure afresh by giving proper time to operators to respond.

Meanwhile,Rastogi dismissed the appeal of telecom operators saying that they can8217;t provide 3G services by having mere 2G licence.

TDSAT has a sanctioned strength of three people including the Chairman. However,due to retirement of its technical member the tribunal now has two people,which led to the split verdict.

The Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal TDSAT had concluded its marathon hearing on the plea in April.

The tribunal had conducted in-chamber proceedings on the matter,at the request of the operators as they feared leakage of details and cost inputs of their respective Intra-Circle Roaming ICR agreements.

The tribunal was hearing a bunch of petitions filed by the operators 8211; Airtel,Vodafone,Idea,Aircel and Tata Tele 8211; challenging the December 23 directions of the Department of Telecom DoT to scrap the pacts within 24 hours.

In an interim order on December 24,TDSAT had asked DoT not to take any coercive action against the operators till further orders for their 3G roaming pacts.

Earlier,the operators had handed over the copies of their ICR to DoT on the direction of the TDSAT.

On February 16,the tribunal had asked them to explain as to how they would compensate the government if they lose the case.

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