DoT told to impose penalties on telcos that had entered into 3G roaming deals

NEW DELHI: The access services wing of the telecoms department, which looks into all operational issues linked with the sector, has ruled that mobile phone companies cannot enter into 3G roaming deals with each other in regions where they have not bagged third generation airwaves.

This marks the second time an internal wing of the telecoms department has ruled against such deals.

ET had reported earlier this month that the Telecom Enforcement Resource and Monitoring (TERM) Cell of the DoT had said that the 3G roaming agreements between Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Essar and Idea Cellular were 'illegal' while adding that it had asked the department to initiate action against the three mobile phone companies, including issuing show cause notices and imposing financial penalties.

The access services wing in an October 20 note, a copy of which was reviewed by ET, has also asked the department to impose financial penalties on telcos that had entered into 3G roaming deals.

"A UAS licensee cannot offer 3G services and declare tariff plans for 3G services in (areas) where he has neither been allocated 3G spectrum nor has his licence been amended for commercial use of 3G spectrum," the access services wing said.

Last week, a probe by telecom regulator Trai has established that 3G roaming agreements between telcos violated licence conditions, but the authority has decided to ask the government to take a final call on this issue. The regulator did not initiate action after after mobile phone companies had explained to it that that the telecom department, prior to the 3G auctions, had clearly specified that 'roaming policy is applicable to licences and not
specific to spectrum bands'. In their defence, these telcos had also provided copies of the clarifications provided by the department on this issue before the 3G auctions. The clarifications quote the DoT's response to operators' queries on this issue as stating that 'roaming will be permitted'.

But the access wing, in its note has now said that as per its clarifications, 'intra circle roaming was allowed only within a circle where the operator does not have 3G network coverage for those services only which are available in his home network'.

With no telco bagging pan-India 3G airwaves in last year's auctions, the leading GSM operators - Bharti Airtel,Vodafone Essar and Idea Cellular - had entered into an alliance that enables them to offer high-end data services on a pan-India basis (except Orissa). Bharti, Vodafone and Idea had won 3G airwaves in 13, 9 and 11 circles, respectively, and their roaming pacts ensured that customers of these companies can access high-speed data services even in the regions where they don't hold 3G airwaves. Aircel, too, has a similar deal with Tata Teleservices and offers 3G services in six circles using the latter's airwaves.

All GSM operators have always maintained that they were in 'complete compliance of the licence conditions' while also adding that their "agreements were as per the stated government policy".

"For providing any kind of services in a particular service area under UAS licence, the service provider has to establish its own network in that service area for fulfilling various obligations set out in the licence agreement," the access services wing added in the October 20 note.