The Supreme Court has told Bharti Airtel not to add any new 3G subscribers in areas where it did not have spectrum.
The apex court also told the Government not to take any coercive steps against the company till the matter is heard.
The Department of Telecom had issued orders on March 15 to stop 3G services in seven circles where Airtel did not have spectrum. The seven circles are Kolkata, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh East and Kerala. DoT had also issued a penalty notice for Rs 350 crore. This was challenged by the operator in the High Court, which declined to stay the DoT order. Then the company approached the Supreme Court for relief.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Altamas Kabir and Justice Vikramajit Sen issued notices to the Centre and Reliance Communications Ltd and sought their response within two weeks on the petition filed by Bharti Airtel.
The apex court said thereafter the respondents would file a rejoinder within two weeks and posted the matter for hearing on May 9.
Airtel had entered into an intra-circle roaming agreement with Idea Cellular and Vodafone to offer 3G services across the country using one another’s spectrum. This was because none of these players had won pan-India spectrum individually.
According to the DoT, though roaming is permitted, such an intra-circle arrangement cannot be used to sell 3G connections in areas where the operators do not have spectrum
If the roaming deals are scrapped, Airtel’s data gameplan will be reduced to 13 circles, of a total of 22, Idea Cellular’s to 11 and Vodafone’s to 9. Earlier, the CEOs of the three companies had written to the Prime Minister threatening to exit the 3G segment if they were not allowed to offer services through the roaming pacts.