Idea seeks withdrawal of damage charges

Idea Cellular, an Aditya Birla group company, has sought withdrawal of damage charges imposed by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) for not fulfiling its rollout obligations in the Delhi circle. The GSM service provider has stated that rollout of services could not be met due to "inadequate and defective allocation of frequency".

Terming the show-cause notice as "one-sided", Idea Cellular has also asked for a personal hearing with the DoT.

In a letter dated August 28 to the Telecom Commission and DoT, the company said it was surprised to be served with a show-cause notice.

"The licence represents a contract with mutual obligation. If there is a breach, it is to be determined which of the contracting parties is the cause and which party suffered as a consequence," the letter, signed by Idea Cellular Managing Director Sanjeev Aga, said. Idea Cellular executives declines to comment.

Apart from the non-allocation of spectrum, an inability to obtain Telecom Engineering Centre (TEC) approval in time was a direct consequence of delays caused by the licensor (DoT).

The letter also said that the company was ready with network and other infrastructure for the launch of the service by May-June 2002.

Idea also ran into losses due to the non-rollout of services, it added.

The company said it was granted licence to commence operations in the Delhi circle on October 5, 2001, but spectrum was allocated only a year later on September 23, 2002.

In 2006, the company was issued a show-cause notice, which was later followed up by a letter from DoT.

Idea Cellular has recently received approvals to commence operations in the Mumbai and Bihar circles, for which the company is awaiting spectrum allocation. It had also received board approval for hiving off its tower business into a separate entity.