• Christmas Cheer For 3G Telcos

    Christmas Cheer For 3G Telcos

    Jayesh Limaye, Dec 26, 2011 1406 hrs IST

    TDSAT stays DoT's 3G roaming ban, mobile operators relieved.

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The ban on 3G roaming slapped by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has been stayed. The Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) decided upon the matter at a special hearing on Saturday, after Bharti Airtel, Essar Vodafone, and Idea Cellular challenged the earlier DoT ruling that 3G roaming agreements between the three were illegal.

TDSAT has asked the DoT to not take any action against the above operators until the next hearing on 3rd January. The point in contention was that the DoT had failed to make it clear at the time of bidding for the 3G spectrum that intra-circle 3G roaming was illegal. No operator was able to procure 3G licences for the entire country, and hence had to resort to agreements with each other to enable national 3G roaming for their subscribers. The ban would have effectively crippled the 3G facility of all the above providers, since they would have been able to provide the service only in their respective circles.

All hopes are now pinned on the January hearing, when the dispute tribunal will deliver the final verdict. Who do you think should win: the DoT or the 3G operators?


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Discussion Board
(3) Comments
raghu
,hyderabad, on Dec 27, 2011 09:58 AM
if we keep the data charges aside, Dot' statement is in favor of BSNL which is a govt. operator and has pan-india 3g operations
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vivek
,ranchi, on Dec 26, 2011 05:11 PM
what telecom operators have done is same as piracy people do with game and software. buying a single CD and all the frnds in group enjoying the same and interchanging diff titles. if common ppl do it is piracy and when big players do its leagal? 3G is being provided using shared infrastructure by all operators except bsnl but still subscribers are paying high. whereas price should hav been lowest with 3G roaming in effect.
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Sachin
,Goa, on Dec 26, 2011 04:21 PM
These telecomes are now joining hands to loot subscribers like UPA.......3G data charges will never come down with this alliance as there wont be any compitition between them. Hate idea!!
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