On Saturday, the top three mobile operators – Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular- had moved TDSAT challenging the government’s notice against telecom operators that have a 3G roaming pact.
Telecom stocks traded with gains today after the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) asked Department of Telecom (DoT) not to take any coercive action against operators in the 3G roaming issue till the next hearing on January 3.
At 1210 hours, Bharti traded with nearly 3.5 per cent gains while Idea Cellular traded 2.5 per cent higher on the Bombay Stock Exchange. The Sensex traded with 1 per cent gains.
On Saturday, the top three mobile operators – Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular- had moved TDSAT challenging the government’s notice against telecom operators that have a 3G roaming pact.
"The DoT, at the time of bidding, did not indicate that it (intra-circle 3G roaming) was illegal. So, if you say that intra-circle roaming is illegal, it will impact on revenue growth and the overall adoption of 3G in the market," Prashant Singhal, Telecom Industry Leader at Ernst & Young said.
None of the operators got the spectrum for the entire country. Unless intra-circle 3G is allowed, it would restrict the 3G market for operators. So clearly, this would have an impact if it is banned," Singhal added.
DoT had asked telecom operators to stop their 3G roaming pact with immediate effect and file a compliance report by 3 pm on Saturday. TDSAT held a special hearing on Saturday on the issue before it closed for winter vacation from this week.
Leading operators like Bharti, Vodafone and Idea had entered into agreement with one another to offer 3G mobile services in circles in which they could not succeed in getting spectrum in the auction held last year.
Following that, the DoT had issued notices to the telecom firms on Friday directing them to stop their 3G roaming agreements with immediate effect as the pacts are illegal and has sought their response within 24 hours.