The Hindu Business Line : Telecom tribunal asks DoT to issue licences based on application date

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Telecom tribunal taking up appeal of Spice Telecom, Idea Cellular.
DoT has so far issued licences to 5 cos based on date of entry fee payment.

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New Delhi, Feb. 28 In a new twist to the controversy over issuing licences to new players, the Telecom Dispute Settlement Appellate Tribunal has given an interim order asking the Department of Telecom to give licences on a first-come-first-served criteria based on the date of application instead of the date of paying the entry fee.

The DoT has so far issued licences to five companies based on their date of paying the entry fee. This had relegated applications from Spice Telecom to the back of the queue despite the fact it had first approached DoT almost a year ago. Spice had filed an appeal in TDSAT seeking an order to restore its seniority among the new applicants.

‘reserve its rights’

Taking up the Spice appeal, the telecom tribunal said, “Accordingly, I direct that till further orders the respondent (DoT) shall take into account the seniority of the petitioner (Spice) and reserve its rights in respect of its application dated August 31, 2006 for grant of Universal Services Licence.”

Similar orders were given for an appeal filed by Idea Cellular, which also found itself at the number two slot despite being the first to have applied for pan-Indian licences

Meawhile, DoT on Thursday issued some more licences. Idea Cellular received eight more new licences. With this, the company now has a pan-Indian licence including its currently operational circles. Others who have got the licence include Videocon, Swan and Unitech. TDSAT’s order could put DoT in a fix as it will now have to accommodate Spice also in its list of new licensees.

Date of spectrum?

However, the next round of fight will be when the time for spectrum allocation comes.

The TDSAT order does not make it clear whether the spectrum will also be given based on the date of application. The Cellular Operators Association of India, which is backing both Idea and Spice, said that TDSAT’s interim order automatically put these companies ahead of the line even for spectrum.