Terming the 3G roaming deals illegal, India’s Telecom Ministry has asked the telecom operators to discontinue their agreements. No decision has been made yet on whether to penalize the telcos for those deals.
The ministry’s decision comes after the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, the Department of Telecom and the Law Ministry said such agreements violate the terms and conditions of the telecom licenses these companies hold.
“The decision has been taken that this (3G roaming pacts) is in violation of terms and conditions of the license … will be issuing notices asking (operators) to stop their service with immediate effect. But on penalty, no decision has been taken yet,” said Telecom Secretary R. Chandrasekhar, the Press Trust of India reported.
Tata Teleservices and Aircel recently scrapped their roaming agreement for offering services in each other’s circles. Other operators like Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular too have entered into such deals.
These private players entered into 3G roaming deals with each other to offer services in areas for which they have not paid any license fees. Only government-owned MTNL and BSNL have acquired pan-India licenses for offering 3G services. Private telecom players like Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular, Vodafone, Reliance Telecom, Tata Teleservices and Aircel only bid for selective circles.
RCR Wireless has previously reported that top executives of three leading telecom companies wrote to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last month about the issue of the controversial 3G roaming deals. The letter sought Singh’s intervention in the 3G roaming deals issue.
“We seek your most urgent intervention to ensure that contract and promises are honoured, otherwise the reputation of an acclaimed, transparent auction will be harmed irreparably,” the letter said. The companies had also threatened to exit 3G services if the promises made by the government were not honored.
