Government claims Airtel, Idea, Vodafone 3G roaming agreements are illegal

[amar]

TDSAT has no power to hear 3G plea: DoT

NEW DELHI: The telecom ministry questioned the jurisdiction of tribunal TDSAT on entertaining the petitions of five telecom operators, including Bharti Airtel and Vodafone, challenging the government's directive to stop 3G roaming agreements.

The development came even as the tribunal began hearing operators' petition challenging the government's recent move to declare 3G roaming pacts between mobile operators illegal. For operators, the tribunal extended relief till January 9, the next date of hearing, implying that the roaming deals can continue till then.

Telecom department's legal counsel additional solicitor general AS Chandiok on Tuesday cited a recent judgement of the Supreme Court that mentions that the tribunal could not entertain petitions on altering terms of telecoms licence. DoT said it would file separate application in this regard within the day after the tribunal asked it to do so.

Operators will have to reply to this application by Friday, January 9, which has been kept as the next date of hearing for the case. Government-owned BSNL requested the tribunal to make it a party to the case since it would be affected by the outcome of the case.

Source:: TDSAT has no power to hear 3G plea: DoT - The Times of India

 

[amar]

Heyy... Does anyone checked that still there is access 3G of another operator?.

 

[Technoholic]

I still get 3G on my Airtel, courtesy: Idea and Vodafone. Circle: Maharashtra and Goa. Here Idea and Vodafone 3G shares with Airtel.Phone chooses the strongest among Idea 3G and Vodafone 3G or switches to Airtel 2G when both are not present. This is very rare case though. Rather Airtel customers are getting benefited here in terms of connectivity as there are many places within city where Airtel 2G is weak or even absent and one of the 3G network has excellent coverage at same place and customer still get uninterrupted service. Also 3G is much more stable in data connectivity. I get constant 14-15 KB/s speed (its throttled by Airtel) on 2G plan on 3G network. Airtel's own 2G network is comparatively unstable and speed fluctuates between 5-20 KB/s.

 

[x720]

Idea connects to vodafone 3G here

 

[amar]

Yep... I am also able to latch !dea 3G network on airtel.... Here is the screenshot.

 

[kookaburra]

I'd like to point out the loophole in Airtel's treatment for prepaid and postpaid customers. 1. Prepaid: If the customer has activated 3G atleast once in the past, then you'll be able to access 3G network (idea/vodafone in MH) while still on the 2G pack. No doubt the speed will be capped, but atleast you'll be able to enjoy the benefits of 3G signal like low latency, stability, etc. 2. Postpaid: But the same thing is not possible for postpaid. You WILL have to go back to airtel's 2G signal if you activate any 2G pack. This is clear discrimination.

 

[Sushubh]

“It is ‘permissible’. But not ‘permitted.’ ”

Kapil Sibal’s words had the effect of a stun grenade in the room full of CEOs of leading Indian mobile operators. For a minute or so, their brains, arguably amongst the sharpest in the country and capable of processing incredible amounts of complexity, froze, trying to parse the meaning.

It was late 2011 and the operators were in an elevated crisis mode.

After spending billions of dollars on buying scarce spectrum a year ago to launch 3G services, they had been served a shocker by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) in October. They were told to cancel all their 3G roaming agreements in states and circles where they did not own the underlying spectrum.

Forbes India Magazine - Death by Regulations: Indian Telecom

 

[shashankre]

So whats the status of this now?!

 

[mhsabir]

TDSAT divided on 3G roaming row, no endgame in sight

 

[kariyan]

Better move to BSNL, they have PAN India presence, though 3G network quality is not so good.