The department of telecommunications (DoT) is preparing to levy penalties on Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular for violating 3G licence conditions by entering into intra-circle roaming arrangements. The combined penalty could work out to over R1,000 crore.
The three telecom operators recently got a reprieve after the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal stayed the DoT ban on such roaming arrangements. According to sources, while DoT initially moved to ban intra-circle roaming on the premise that spectrum sharing was wrong, after consultations with the law ministry, it took the view that ?lending? 3G spectrum to one another is a violation of licence conditions. It is set to issue show-cause notices to the three firms on this ground shortly.
Since no operator had won 3G spectrum across the country, the three operators entered into roaming pacts that would allow them to use each others’ 3G networks in circles where any one of them hadn?t won spectrum. By doing so, they were able to provide 3G services to subscribers on their 2G network in spite of not having any 3G spectrum. Airtel alone had 3G spectrum in the highest number of circles for any operator with 13, followed by Idea in 11 circles and Vodafone in 9.
?The show-cause notices are being issued to these three operators for leasing out spectrum; for being the ?giver? of spectrum to another operator. What the TDSAT has stayed is our order banning 3G intra-circle roaming based on the argument that one operator can?t take spectrum from another,? a DoT official told FE.
?Even if one were to see the draft of the new telecom policy, spectrum sharing is allowed only among those who possess spectrum and hold a licence in that particular circle,? the official said.
3G intra-circle roaming would become illegal even if spectrum sharing were allowed, the official said.
Hence, for an operator to use another operator’s network, both will need to have 3G spectrum which is not the case among these three operators.
Though the ministry is still finalising the show cause notices, rough calculations show the combined penalty amount levied on the three would be above Rs 1,000 crore. Licence condition violations attract a maximum penalty of Rs 50 crore per circle which is expected to be slapped on all three for each circle they have lent out their 3G networks.
