3G case: HC issues notices to Idea Cellular, others

The Delhi High Court, on Monday, asked telecom operator Idea Cellular Ltd and its chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla to respond on the contempt petition, which was filed by the government of India, for alleged disobey of its earlier order by providing 3G services to new customers in circles where it lacks the requisite licences.

Justice Rajiv Shakdhar asked Idea Cellular and five others including Birla to file their response within four weeks and posted the matter for further hearing on August 5.

Besides the telecom company and its chairman, the court also issued notices to Himanshu Kapania, Managing Director of ICL, Akshya Moondra, Chief Financial Officer of the firm, P Lakshminarayana and Pankaj Kapdeo, Company Secretaries of Idea Cellular.

In a statement, Idea Cellular has said that it has given four weeks to reply to the application filed by Union of India against Idea Cellular’s earlier compliance affidavit on the 3G intra-circle roaming (ICR) matter.  The company awaits the Court Order, the statement reads.

“Idea Cellular confirms that as per its compliance affidavit dated April 18, 2013, it continues to be in complete compliance with the order of the Delhi High Court dated April 12, 2013 as regards 3G ICR, and no new 3G subscribers have been added in the ‘3G Seeker Service Areas’ of Assam, Bihar, Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, North East, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. In fact, the company continues to lose existing 3G subscribers in these 3G seeker service areas since the date of the Court Order,” the company said in its statement on Monday.

The government has earlier filed a contempt petition before the Delhi High Court against Idea Cellular for violating the directive of the Supreme Court which has asked telecom companies, which were providing 3G services in circles where they do not have spectrum through intra-circle roaming (ICR) agreements, not to acquire new customers.

The government, in its petition, has also requested the court to initiate proceeding against the telco for deliberate and wilful disobedience of order which was passed by the Supreme Court on April 12, 2013.

According to the petition filed by the Union of India against Idea Cellular, the telco had filed an additional affidavit stating that it has “additionally decided” to provide 3G services to those existing customers who meet ‘criteria’. It is also noted that the Court order, dated April 12, is clear and has to be complies or obeyed on its entirety.

It is stated that Idea Cellular has mentioned in its petition that it shall extend 3G services to all pre-paid or post-paid subscribers activated on or before April 12 who have used either of any 3G, including data or voice or SMS or MMS or any other VAS services on the ‘3G seeker Service Network’ in the last 90 days preceding April 13, 2013.

According to the government petition, Idea Cellular had said that it will be offering 3G services to those customers who were not availing the service but had subscribed to either of the mentioned 3G services in the last 90 days preceding April 13.

According to the Court order, no 3G service can also be given to those who earlier would have availed such services, but were not availing the same as on April 12, 2013.

Earlier, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) had asked Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India and Idea Cellular to end the intra-circle (ICT) 3G roaming pacts, besides imposing penalties on each of the telcos. While Bharti Airtel was slapped with a penalty of Rs 350 crore, penalty for Vodafone India was Rs 550 crore and Rs 300 crore on Idea Cellular for alleged violation of licence norms.

On April 11, the Supreme Court had said that Bharti Airtel will not be able to add new 3G customers in seven circles where it does not have required licences and offers the services through ICR pacts with other carriers. But, it did not bar the company from offering service to its existing 3G customers in the seven telecom zones — Kolkata, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh East and Kerala.

The top three operators—Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India and Idea Cellular—had signed pacts for sharing 3G spectrum and offering services across each others’ circles, as no operators had bought pan-India 3G spectrum through auctions in 2010. While Bharti Airtel has 3G spectrum in 13 circles, Vodafone India has in nine circles and Idea has in 11 service areas.