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G. Rambabu

NO UNANIMITY: Mr Justice D.P. Wadhwa, flanked by Mr R.U.S. Prasad and Mr P.R. Dasgupta, Members, TDSAT, coming out from the tribunal office after delivering the judgment on limited mobility in the Capital on Friday. - Kamal Narang

New Delhi , Aug. 8

FOR limited mobility (WLL) subscribers in the three metros of Delhi Mumbai and Chennai, the majority order of the Telecom Dispute Settlement Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) has brought about its own share of confusion as to whether their handsets are permitted to be operational throughout their respective cities.

The TDSAT has stated that the DoT should ensure that mobility in the case of WLL service remains restricted to the short distance charging area (SDCA) and no handover from one SDCA to another is allowed under any circumstance.

While this has been the accepted norm so far by all basic operators, what has added to this confusion is its statement that Delhi is divided into four SDCAs with Mumbai and Chennai into three SDCAs.

While the basic service licence signed by the operators clearly states that all the city limits make up for one SDCA allowing a subscriber to travel around with the same handset, the new division that the TDSAT has pointed out would mean that it may no longer be possible.

A WLL subscriber living in one part of the city may not be able to carry the handset to a different part of the city if it falls within the purview of a different SDCA. For example a person living in Andheri may not be able to use his handset at Nariman point, a person in Adyar may not be able to avail of the service once he crosses into Royapuram, or a person living in Vasant Kunj may not be able to use the phone in Connaught Place, something that has the potential of knocking the wind out of the WLL operators.

It may no longer be lucrative for the subscriber to go in for a WLL connection if his movement is restricted to a few kilometres away from his residence. Although Reliance and Tata officials maintained that as per their basic licence the three cities comprise one whole SDCA, and there is no cause for the customers to worry, the TDSAT judgment differs.

Officials of the basic operators provided a copy of their licences, which states that the cities are one SDCA each. The TDSAT judgment has however noted: "For basic service providers, Mumbai is broken into three SDCAs, Delhi into four SDCAs and Chennai into three SDCAs. In respect of basic service subscribers availing of WLL services in Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai, their service would be restricted to the SDCA in which they are registered and even within the same city their handsets may be non-operational if they cross over into another SDCA".

Only Kolkata, like the other small towns and cities has one SDCA. So even as subscriber in these places can heave a sigh of relief, those in the three metros may have second thoughts about going in for a WLL connection unless the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) steps in and clarifies about the licences that it has issued to operators.

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