British telecom firm Vodafone’s Indian arm on Monday contested the proposal of one-time charge for extra spectrum held by service providers beyond the contracted limit of 6.2 Mhz, saying this is in violation of the contract.

“...Any suggestion or action on part of DoT or Trai to charge one—time fee on spectrum (2G) beyond 6.2 Mhz is legally untenable as the consideration has already been paid and is being paid in form of higher spectrum usage charges,” said Mr T V Ramachandran, Resident Director, Regulatory Affairs and Government Relations, Vodafone India.

Meanwhile, on the contentious issue of roaming pact among leading service providers to offer 3G mobile services, the company seems to have hardened its stand by stating that they are ready to return the 3G spectrum to the Government and will take back the money if the roaming pact is not allowed.

“Department of Telecom cannot go back on permission for 3G roaming. We are open to returning spectrum if 3G roaming pact among the service providers is not allowed,” he said.

“A licensee may enter into mutual commercial agreements for intra service area roaming facilities with other licensed Cellular Mobile Telephone Service Licensees/Unified Access Service Licensees. Further, Trai can also prescribe tariffs or charges for such facilities within the provisions of Trai Act, 1997 as amended from time to time,” he said.

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Published on November 21, 2011