Bharti Airtel asked to stop 3G roaming pacts by Delhi High Court - Economic Times

NEW DELHI: A panel of judges of the Delhi High Court has quashed an earlier order of the court preventing the government from discontinuing BhartiAirtel's 3G services in regions where it does not have permits for these operations. "BhartiAirtel will have to stop services immediately as the 3G roaming pacts were illegal and against the terms and conditions of the licence contract," ManeeshaDhir, the lawyer representing the telecom department (DoT), told ET. Bharti is expected to approach the Supreme Court on Friday, but will have to shut down 3G services in seven regions if SC fails to provide relief. The high court was acting on a plea by Reliance Communications (RCOM), which said Bharti's move to provide pan-India 3G data services was impacting its business, triggering a fresh round of corporate wars in the controversy-ridden sector. RCOM had argued that a judge of the Delhi High Court had 'wrongly stayed' the telecom department's order stopping the Sunil Mittal-promoted telco from offering 3G services outside its licensed zones. Dhir, the government's legal representative, also said Bharti would have to cough up Rs 350 crore for offering high-end data services in seven regions where it does not have 3G frequencies, but added that the deadline for this payment would be known when the court's orders are made public. The company had about 7 million 3G users as of December 2012, but it is not known how many of them belong to the seven regions, which also include Kolkata, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Haryana, UP, Kerala and Madhya Pradesh, where it does not own 3G airwaves. Bharti's scrip fell 2.46% to close at Rs 273.75 on the BSE after the news broke mid-day. A telecom department official confirmed that Vodafone and Idea Cellular would also be slapped with notices soon, demanding that they hang up on 3G roaming pacts. The official said these telcos would not be in a position to challenge the order in the Delhi High Court. Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea won 3G airwaves in 13, nine and 11 circles, respectively, in the 2010 auctions, and between them have a national footprint. They subsequently entered into intra-circle roaming pacts with each other and rode on the airwaves of their partners in regions where they did not hold spectrum themselves. These roaming pacts enabled them to offer high-speed data services on a pan-India basis. The DoT official quoted above added that Bharti would be slapped with another show cause notice for sharing its airwaves with Vodafone and Idea. It will also be asked to pay an additional Rs 500 crore in penalties for the alleged violation. This implies Bharti will be confronted with penalties totalling Rs 850 crore related to its 3G roaming pacts with Vodafone and Idea. RCOM, which recently signed an infrastructure-sharing deal with Mukesh Ambani-promoted Reliance Industries, had told the court that it had paid several thousand crore rupees for 3G airwaves in several zones. It alleged that Bharti was offering these services for free in areas where it did not have permits, thereby destroying the level playing field. By riding on airwaves of Vodafone and Idea, Bharti Airtel was eating into RCOM's business, said its petition, which was reviewed by ET. RCOM has taken on Bharti over several spectrum-related matters recently, including reallocation of the efficient 900 MHz frequencies held by incumbent GSM operators, and the Anil Ambani-promoted telco has been backed by elder sibling's Reliance Industries on some of these key issues. The country's two biggest operators by customers are no strangers to corporate battles. More than a decade ago, the undivided Reliance Industries, in the face of opposition from Bharti Airtel and other GSM operators, was able to convince the government to change policy to allow CDMA operators to offer full-fledged mobile services. Copyright © 2013 Times Internet Limited. All rights reserved. via Technology - Google News http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNHGGAg7ifXhjrQpcUFSBCma7pB_Og&url=http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/telecom/bharti-airtel-asked-to-stop-3g-roaming-pacts-by-delhi-high-court/articleshow/19391391.cms

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