Bharti Airtel Seeks to Overturn Ban on 3G Roaming Services

Published on: 2nd Oct 2012

­India's Bharti Airtel is seeking a court order overturning the instruction from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to stop offering 3G roaming services in parts of the country where it does not hold a 3G license.

The DoT has ordered all the mobile networks to cease their 3G roaming service - a decision which they are fighting as they claim they were told it would be permitted before the 3G license auction took place in 2010.

Airtel, Idea and Vodafone each bought licenses in most of the country's 22 "circles", but where they lack a license, they offered roaming onto a rival network that did have coverage in the specific circle.

In a statement, Bharti Airetl said that it is "in receipt of a show-cause notice received from DoT on 3G ICR, and is seeking appropriate legal remedy. Airtel confirms the 3G ICR arrangements are in compliance with the clarifications of the DoT at the time of the auction of the 3G spectrum, all applicable laws and licensing conditions and are hugely beneficial to customers."

Earlier this year, the Telecom Disputes Settlement Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) decided that the case as to the legality of the 3G roaming deals had to be sent to a higher court for a final verdict.

It is estimated that around 20% of the country's 3G subscribers make use of the 3G roaming service from their mobile network providers.

 

Tags: [bharti airtel]  [3g license]  [India]