Telecom tribunal allows 3G roaming pacts

The telecom tribunal has overturned a government ban on inter-service pacts among third-generation telecom service from offering 3G services beyond their licensed zones.

This clears the path for the three-way deal among the country's three major cell phone operators - a decision that will help the firms expand high-speed data services faster and cut their capital expenditure.

The Department of Telecom (DoT) had, in March 2013, issued orders barring service providers from offering 3G services in circles where they did not have spectrum.

The county's top three carriers, Bharti Airtel Ltd, Vodafone and Idea Cellular Ltd, had entered into pacts with each other to provide 3G services beyond their licensed zones as none of them had secured national permit in the 2010 auction.

With the prohibitive cost of purchasing 3G airwaves in the 2010 auction no single carrier had won a nationwide permit.

On Monday, the country's three other major telecom service providers, Reliance Communications, Tata Teleservices and Aircel announced a tripartite agreements to provide seamless 3G roaming services to their respective customers. 

RCom and Aircel have permits for 3G services in 13 out of 22 service areas while Tata Teleservices has permit in 9 circles.

The Telecom Dispute Settlement Appellate Tribunal's order allowing intra-circle roaming deals for 3G services comes as a big relief to mobile phone operators.

Though intra-circle roaming pacts are generally permitted, DoT said, such intra-circle arrangements cannot be used to sell 3G connections in areas where the operators do not have spectrum.

The DoT had asked the operators to stop such services and had also imposed penalties on violation of rules.

The TDSAT, however, quashed the penalties and ruled in favour of the operators. A detailed judgement is expected later today.

The TDSAT had, in 2012, given a split verdict on an appeal by the carriers and last year the Supreme Court had asked the companies to not add new 3G customers as the case continued (See: SC suspends Airtel's 3G roaming arrangements in 7 circles).