HC reserves verdict on dual technology row

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Thursday reserved its judgement on a writ petition filed by GSM lobby group COAI, challenging the Centre's decision to allow use of dual technology in mobile telephony and allocate spectrum.

A single member bench of Justice Geeta Mittal reserved its order after completing the hearing.

The case filed by the Cellular Operators Association of India witnessed a marathon argument for over two months, virtually involving the entire industry.

In its petition, Cellular Operators Association of India had requested the court to quash DoT's October 18 and 19 decisions to permit the use of dual technology and acceptance of sectoral regulator TRAI's recommendation for adoption of an enhanced subscriber-linked criteria for allocation of additional spectrum.

The Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) on December 12 had refused to stay the allocation of spectrum. COAI has also challenged TDSAT's order before the High Court.

Also today in separate proceedings before the appellate tribunal, TDSAT directed DoT that priority for issuing licenses and subsequently spectrum should be considered as per the date of application and not on first-come-first-serve basis from the date of payment of fee.