DoT to ask operators to stop 3G service outside own circles

The Department of Telecom will ask mobile operators to stop offering 3G services in circles where they do not have spectrum.

The Department has readied a show cause notice which will give operators 3 days to shut down the service. In addition, the DoT may impose a penalty for licence violation.

While mobile licences allow operators to enter into roaming agreements, in the case of 3G, service operators have gone a step ahead and are selling connections even in areas where they do not have spectrum. Earlier, roaming agreements for 2G services were primarily done to cater to subscribers who travel from one circle to another. But 3G services operators have got into an agreement, whereby connections are being sold in the same circle.

For example, in Madhya Pradesh both Bharti Airtel and Vodafone do not have 3G spectrum but they have 36,490 and 1,558 subscribers, respectively, according to the DoT. This has been made possible because the two operators have entered into an agreement with Idea Cellular.

DoT officials said the key question was whether such an arrangement tantamount to spectrum sharing, which is not permitted under the licence conditions.

Operators, however, said the arrangement was legal as DoT had clarified that roaming agreements will be allowed for 3G services. “We had asked this question before the auction began and DoT had said in the affirmative. This is on record as part of the auction guidelines,” said an operator.

“The roaming arrangement is not spectrum sharing because the equipment and network belong to the operator which owns the spectrum. It would have been a case of spectrum sharing had operators put their own equipment and network on someone else's spectrum,” said an industry analyst.

3G operators had to enter into roaming agreements because none of the companies won pan-Indian spectrum during the auctions held last year. MTNL had got spectrum in Delhi and Mumbai and it wants to offer roaming arrangement to private players who did not win airwaves during the auction in these lucrative circles.

This is the second show cause being issued by the DoT on this issue. In December, operators were told to shut down the roaming services but they took a stay order from the Telecom Dispute Settlement Appellate Tribunal. The tribunal later gave a split verdict asking the Department to give the operators a hearing before taking any action. Industry representatives said that operators could appeal against the fresh show cause notice in high court.

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