HC declines to stay spectrum allocation to RCom, others

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court today declined to stay the government's process to allot spectrum to Anil Ambani-led Reliance Communications and other aspirants, as was demanded by a lobby of existing GSM mobile operators.

Justice Gita Mittal refused to pass any order after Additional Solicitor General Vikas Singh said it would take at least two months to complete the allocation of airwaves.

The court was hearing an application filed by Cellular Operators Association of India, the lobby of GSM firms such as Bharti Airtel, seeking stay of Department of Telecom's January 10 move to issue letters of intent to eligible new aspirants and allowing allotment of GSM spectrum to RCom.

COAI counsel Fali Nariman contended that the statement made by ASG should be recorded in the order but it was turned down by the court, which advanced the hearing from January 31 to January 21. The court also issued notices to the Centre, RCom, Tata Teleservices, HFCL, Shyam Telelink among others on the COAI application.

The court had earlier fixed January 31 as the date for hearing the petition filed by COAI that challenged DoT's decision to allow dual technology and enhanced subscriber- linked criteria for spectrum allocation. COAI had also sought quashing of TDSAT decision that allowed the government to go ahead with spectrum allocation.