Airtel, Vodafone, Loop and Idea plea for licence extension rejected

In a set back to Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Loop and Idea, telecom tribunal TDSAT has dismissed their pleas seeking stay over next month’s spectrum auction and extension of their licenses by another 10 years.

Rejecting a batch of petition, the tribunal said: “The petitioners have failed to establish their right for extension in terms of the relevant provisions in their licenses, the matter ends there”.

The Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) held that it was satisfied with the reason based on which the Department of Telecom (DoT) had denied extension and asked telcos to participate in the spectrum auction starting February 3.

“Denial of extension of the licenses to the petitioners is based on good reasons as envisaged under clause 4.1 of the UAS license and the relevant provision in the CMTS license and the petitioners can claim no right for extension of their licenses under the aforesaid provisions of their licenses,” said TDSAT bench headed by Chairman Justice Aftab Alam.

It further observed that “any extension of the expiring licenses is bound to undermine the implementation of the policy and that is justification enough and sufficient for the Government to decline the extension for the licenses”.

Vodafone and Bharti Airtel are participating in the coming auction and are short-listed as eligible bidders. Their licenses are expiring by November end this year on completion of the 20-year period as per license conditions.

However, their participation is without prejudice to their rights and contentions in the petitions pending before TDSAT as per the order passed December 20, 2013.

Loop, which operates in the Mumbai circle, has not participated in the auction process as it was waiting for the outcome of this petition.

Idea’s seven licences would expire in December 2015.

Vodafone’s licence is expiring for Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata circles while for Airtel it is Delhi and Mumbai circles.

Airtel, Vodafone and Loop’s spectrum belong to 900 MHz band and a relatively very small portion to 1800 MHz band.

Telcos had argued that they have made huge investments ranging into several crores and hence had the legitimate expectation for the extension. Any such denial was not only “illegal and unreasonable” but also reflected upon the uncertainties of doing business in the country, they added.

However, tribunal was not impressed with it and said: “We would only like to observe that the holder of a UAS license has no right of allocation of spectrum beyond 6.2 MHz.

“As against that, all the petitioners have been holding, for years, spectrum far in excess of the contracted quantum and that too in the most premium band and that on payment of entry fee at rates fixed in 2001. Hence, we are not impressed by this submission”.