The Hindu Business Line : Cellular spoke in Reliance rollout?

IN what could put a spoke in the wheels of Reliance Communications Ltd, the telecom venture of the Reliance group, the Cellular Operators' Association of India (COAI) is evaluating the option of moving the Telecom Dispute Settlement Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) seeking a stay on its launch of basic (including limited mobility) services on December 28.

Disclosing this at a press conference, a day after the Supreme Court referred the issue back to TDSAT, Mr Gopal Jain, Lawyer, COAI, noted that while no decision had been taken as yet, the association was still evaluating the option, since the court had allowed only the existing limited mobility operations to continue. Any limited mobility service that came into operation before the apex court's judgement on Tuesday would not be affected; but it has to be seen whether the new operations can be allowed, he said.

Earlier deliberating on the judgment, Mr Jain drove home the point that it was not just the "level playing field" between cellular and basic operators that had been called for reconsideration.

"Level playing field is just one of the issues that the media has sought to highlight. In fact, the court has directed reconsideration of the matter in the context of the entire gamut of issues that COAI has been stating, including legal issues, policy issues and permissibility, public interest, contractual obligations, substitutability of services, reality with regard to cost and march of technology and violation of TRAI Act," he said.

He noted that the apex court had set aside the earlier order of TDSAT on all counts. The basic service providers have no judicial determination on the issues raised. The only reason why the court did not go into the merits of the matter was that it expected and directed TDSAT to exercise its original jurisdiction on facts.

"Limited mobility cannot be justified on consumer interest alone. Consumer interest and affordability objectives are illusory and far-fetched. It is not technology or lower cost, but purely favourable licence terms which are themselves illegal," he said.

Mr Jain noted that the tribunal would have to take the entire parity in licensing under consideration while deciding affordability and consumer interest. If the offer were accepted, there would be no price differential between cellular and limited mobility tariffs. This would also have to be taken into consideration.

Limited mobility and cellular operations are fully substitutable and similar services.

Now the tribunal would have to consider all aspects and evidence on substitutability, he said.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Virat Bhatia, Managing Director, AT&T India, emphasised that all decisions by limited mobility operators including existing and future launch of services would be subject to the outcome of TDSAT's order. Limited mobility services are sub-judice and the usage of these services was accompanied by significant risk, he said.

`Can't be stopped'

REACTING to the proposed threat of a stay on the launch of basic services by Reliance Communications Ltd on December 28, officials of the Association of Basic Telecom Operators (ABTO) noted that this would not be feasible since the Supreme Court judgement never categorically said that the status quo was for earlier services, and not new operations.

The cellular operators in their petition before the Supreme Court had clearly mentioned Reliance as one of the operators whose services should be stayed, in response to which the court had ruled that it would be against consumer interest to do so. So there was no question of allowing earlier operators to continue and restricting new operators, they said.

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