3G roaming pacts: Supreme Court grants relief to Bharti Airtel till Thursday

The Supreme Court today granted temporary relief to Bharti Airtel in the third-generation or 3G roaming case, asking the government not to take action against the country's leading telecom service provider till this Thursday.

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) had on March 15 asked the telco to terminate its 3G roaming pacts with other service providers -- Vodafone and Idea Cellular -- in seven circles in which it does not have licences to offer services. It had also fined Bharti Rs 350 crore for offering 3G services beyond permitted zones.

Bharti has pleaded in court that over 20 million subscribers will be affected if it terminates its roaming pacts. If the DoT order comes into effect, Airtel subscribers will not be able to use 3G services when they are travelling through or to a circle where the company does not have a 3G licence.

One telco, Reliance Communications, has opposed Bharti Airtel in court, alleging that the company is selling SIM cards illegally in the seven circles where it does not own spectrum.

Bharti had appealed against the DoT order in the Delhi High Court and got a stay on its execution last month. A division bench of the court, however, reversed the order and the company moved the Supreme Court.

Bharti Airtel had won 3G spectrum in 13 out of 22 telecom circles in 2010 through an auction and had entered into a quid pro quo agreement with other telcos which won spectrum in other service areas where it did not have spectrum to offer 3G services.

The agreement allows the companies to offer 3G data services to their customers beyond their licensed zones or circles, which DoT says is illegal. The department had in December issued a letter instructing various telecom service providers, including Bharti Airtel, to immediately stop providing intra-circle roaming service in all service area. All the companies have appealed against this order.