Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Tuesday, Nov 11, 2003
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Tuesday, Nov 11, 2003 |
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Info-Tech
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Telecommunications Unified licensing regime — Small cellular units set store by `alternate solutions' G. Rambabu
New Delhi , Nov. 10 EVEN as the Supreme Court admitted a petition against the Telecom Dispute Settlement Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) order on limited mobility (WLL), a couple of smaller cellular operators have voiced their dissent against any more legal action. Instead, they favoured "alternate solutions" in the proposed unified licensing regime. According to industry sources, a few small operators have expressed the view that since the unified licensing regime is close to becoming a reality, it may be futile to pursue the petition against the tribunal order on limited mobility. Even if they do in the case, apart from being a moral victory, there could be no further tangible benefits for the operators. "TRAI's recommendation on unified licensing followed by the decision by the Group of Ministers and Cabinet, without any changes in three days goes to show that unified licence has become a reality. It would be better not to pursue the legal actions on these issues any further and we should concentrate proposing alternate solutions to the Government without affecting the unified licence migration implementation", the operators have submitted at a recent meeting of the Cellular Operators Association of India. They have taken the view that the GSM (global system for mobile communications) cellular operators should be given additional relief including passing on the penalty amount, which is to be collected from Reliance. This would save legal action and expenses and would develop better understanding with the Government and other operators. "We also propose to look into the possibility of an initiative from the cellular operators' association to form a unified telecom service providers association at the earliest so that better understanding among all operators can be created on other issues", they have stated. However, despite this opposition from the smaller operators, the association has decided to go ahead with the legal battle as it was backed by a majority of the bigger players. "While it is true that some operators had raised apprehensions, once a decision is taken by the association, all the members have backed it. It would be prudent to fight the battle till the end, rather than shy away now at the penultimate stage. More so, since all the cellular operators have continued to maintain that limited mobility services are a back-door entry into the mobile sector", the sources said. While the apex court has admitted the petition and declined to order a stay on limited mobility services, notices have been issued to all the parties concerned and the matter will come up for hearing at an undecided date later. In the meantime, the cellular operators would continue with their discussion with the Finance Ministry to arrive at a suitable compensation package as sought by them, they said.
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