The Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) today reserved its order on a plea filed by Tata Teleservices seeking withdrawal of the excess spectrum allotted to GSM operators beyond the 6.2 MHz permissible under the licence condition.
After hearing the matter for more than three hours, a TDSAT Bench headed by Chairman S B Sinha reserved its order.
During the proceeding, senior advocate Ramji Srinivasan, appearing for Tata Tele, submitted that the Department of Telecom (DoT) should have adopted a neutral policy for GSM and CDMA operators while allotting spectrum.
Srinivasan said the DoT should have a level playing field policy, but had alloted only 2.5 MHz of spectrum to CDMA operators compared to 6.2 MHz for GSM service providers.
"What is the status of spectrum held by GSM operators beyond 6.2 MHz is an ongoing exercise by Trai," he said.
However, senior advocate C S Baidyanathan, appearing for GSM lobby group COAI, and Vikas Singh for the DoT, opposed it and said that capacity of CDMA is four to five times more than of GSM.
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On July 30, Anil Ambani group firm Reliance Communications (RCom), which had also filed a petition along with Tata group firm opposing the allotment of excess spectrum had withdrawn its petition before the TDSAT.
They had also sought a level playing field with GSM players on spectrum allocation, which was 2:1 in favour of GSM operators, especially at a time when firms in both the segments have paid the same entry fee.
RCom and Tata Tele, the CDMA service providers, who were alloted GSM radio frequency in 2008, had approached TDSAT seeking directions to DoT to withdraw the excess spectrum alloted to GSM operators beyond the permissible limit of 6.2 MHz in their licence agreement.
Tata Tele had moved TDSAT in this regard in December, 2007, and the ADAG firm in January, 2008. The tribunal had clubbed both the matters and was hearing the cases together.
"It was beyond their eligibility. The excess spectrum should be returned and reframed," RCom and Tata Tele had said in their plea.