Uninor moves SC against DoT's spectrum fee hike

Uninor, the joint venture of Norway's Telenor with Unitech Wireless, has moved the Supreme Court challenging the increase in spectrum usage charges by the Department of Telecom.

The increase in usage charge, which ranges from 3 per cent to 8 per cent, has already been contested by GSM operators Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Essar and Idea.

Telecom service providers decided to approach the court after  the Telecom Dispute Settlement Appellate Tribunal refused to scrap the DoT order.

Admitting Uninor's petition on Friday, a bench headed by Chief Justice S H Kapadia directed that all such petitions be grouped together.

The Supreme Court had, on October 22, stayed the TDSAT order but asked Bharti, Vodafone and Idea to deposit 50 per cent of the amount due to the government, if the spectrum charges were hiked.

The SC also asked the operators to furnish bank guarantees for the balance amount.