The Hindu Business Line : Spectrum for RCom subject to court’s final order: HC

New Delhi, Jan. 3 The Delhi High Court on Wednesday said that any decision by the Government to allocate GSM spectrum to Reliance Communications will be subject to its final order.

Hearing a petition filed by the GSM operators, Justice Ms Gita Mittal said, “Anything done by (the Centre) in furtherance of an application made by Reliance Communications will be subject to the outcome of this writ petition.”

The Cellular Operators Association of India, representing the GSM industry, had filed a petition seeking a stay on the Government’s decision to allow dual technology to Reliance Communications.

The court, while refusing to give a stay order, has issued notices to the Government and Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.

Responses have also been sought from all the companies which have applied for dual technology including Reliance Communications, Tata Teleservices, Himachal Futuristic Communication Ltd and Shyam Telelink. They have been given them time till January 5 to file their responses.

The court also directed the Government to produce the application filed by Reliance Communications in February 2006.

COAI charge

COAI had alleged in its petition that the letter sent by RCOM in February 2006 was being treated by the Government as an official application whereas it was at best a note enquiring whether the company could offer GSM services in addition to its pan-India CDMA operations. When COAI pressed for a stay, the court advised that in case the Government allocated crossover spectrum to RCOM, the GSM operators have the liberty to come back to the court for relief.

Appearing for COAI, senior advocate Mr Ram Jethmalani questioned the events of October 18 and 19, 2007 and said that the Department of Telecom had shown undue haste and hurry in which an in-principle approval was given to Reliance Communications. The GSM operators said that they were happy with the court’s order as it enabled them to approach the Bench immediately if the Government allocated spectrum to RCOM.

‘Nothing new’

DoT sources, however, said that since there was no stay they were continuing with the announced policy wherein spectrum will be allotted first to the existing operators as per on TRAI norms, then to GSM players who had applied in 2006 for expanding into new circles and then to those companies which wanted to offer dual technology. “When COAI had filed a petition in the High Court, then that action had automatically put the decision on dual technology subject to the court’s order. So there is nothing new in what the court said today,” said a DoT official.