TDSAT grants 10 more days to DoT reply to Qualcomm plea
17 Jul 2012
The Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT), the court for telecom disputes, has granted an additional 10 days to Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to file its reply on Qualcomm's plea against a reduction of validity of wireless broadband spectrum.
The telecom licensor, DoT had reduced the validity of Qualcomm's Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) spectrum to 18 years and six months, from the earlier 20 years.
Apart from the reduction in validity, Qualcomm's rollout obligation period was also reduced from five years to three-and-a-half years. The US-based chipmaker had challenged these moves before TDSAT.
The tribunal, which accepted DoT's request and granted it 10 days, also provided 7 days time to Qualcomm to file a rejoinder over DoT's reply. The next hearing of the issue would be on 3 August.
DoT, had sought more time to file its reply, which was opposed by Qualcomm.
On 1 June, while issuing notice to DoT, TDSAT had directed it to file reply within four weeks. It had also granted two weeks time to Qualcomm for its rejoinder.
Qualcomm had won the BWA spectrum in four circles - Delhi, Mumbai, Kerala and Haryana - for Rs4,900 crore through bidding in 2010.
Earlier this year, TDSAT had directed DoT to dispose of Qualcomm's application for BWA licence and expeditiously allot the spectrum for providing BWA services.