Call for redress

New Delhi, Nov. 2: Top mobile service providers, in a letter to telecom minister Kapil Sibal, have stated that a refund of their 3G spectrum money or fresh auctions was inevitable if the government disallowed roaming pacts, which some of them have entered into to offer 3G services in circles where they don’t have spectrum.

No single operator had won 3G spectrum in all the 22 telecom circles. So, they entered into agreements among themselves to serve their respective customers in circles where they had failed to get the 3G spectrum in the auction last year.

However, the department of telecom (DoT) and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India have questioned these agreements, terming them illegal. They contend that these agreements are similar to spectrum sharing or the mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) model, both of which are not allowed under the current rules.

An MVNO offers mobile services on other operators’ networks and does not have its own licensed spectrum and infrastructure.

State-run BSNL has also objected to the 3G agreements among private operators, saying such pacts will make its all-India 3G service unviable.

The country has 10-15 million 3G customers. Private players had launched the 3G services late last year.

Mobile operators Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Idea and Tata Teleservices have based their argument on the fact that they hold universal access service licence that allows them to operate in all the circles and provide “all types of access services” — 2G, 3G or 4G.

“Any determination now that this might not be the case would fundamentally alter the legal and economic basis on which the business case for 3G bids were evaluated, inevitably leading to a requirement to either refund to the bidders or re-run the auctions,” the chiefs of Airtel, Vodafone, Idea and Tata Teleservices wrote in the letter to Sibal.

Last year, the government had earned around Rs 70,000 crore by selling the high-speed 3G spectrum in an auction.

Airtel, Aircel and R-Com each won 3G spectrum in 13 circles, while Vodafone got it in 10 circles, and Idea and the Tatas in nine circles.

The DoT had earlier said, “Intra-service area roaming on 3G network where one of the operators does not have 3G spectrum shall not be treated as spectrum sharing.” The DoT is, however, now in two minds if the intra-circle network sharing pacts can apply to these 3G agreements.