The Telecom Ministry has sought comments from global chip maker Qualcomm, which had bagged broadband spectrum in 2010 auction, on the issue of rejection of its ISP licence application.
"Every action and every step has to be taken with reference to NIA (Notice Iniviting Application). Decision has been conveyed to them. We will have to see whatever is their response," DoT Secretary R Chandrashekhar told reporters here.
DoT last week issued notice to Qualcomm in which it conveyed that company's request for Internet Service Provider licence has been rejected by the department on the grounds of late submission of application.
The telecom secretary said that notice from DoT is not for cancellation of licence but to inform the company that their request has not been approved.
Contesting Telecom Ministry's stand to reject its ISP licence, mobile chipmaker Qualcomm said it has fully complied with the process and is in dialogue with the Indian authorities to resolve the issue.
Qualcomm had won spectrum for high speed broadband wireless services (BWA) in four circles -- Delhi, Mumbai, Haryana and Kerala -- through auction done by DoT in June 2010, and paid Rs 4,912.5 crore (about $1 billion).
"The application process was fully complied with, and we will continue to work with the Indian authorities to resolve this matter," Qualcomm had said.
Qualcomm has said the company applied for licences on August 9, 2010, through locally incorporated entity, which was within a month of getting Letter of Intent (LoI) from DoT for internet service provider (ISP) licence.
"DoT gave us LoI for ISP A category licence on July 13, 2010. We applied within a month for the licences on August 9, 2010, through our entity incorporated in India," a company official had said.
Qualcomm partnered with Indian firms Tulip Telecom and Global Holding Corporation in July 2010, to form a separate entity, Wireless Broadband Business Services (WBBS), to run BWA business. This entity applied for ISP A category licence for each circle.
"ISP A category licence is a pan-India licence but like cross holding norms in unified access services licence [UASL] in a circle, there are no such bindings for ISP A," the official had said.
The official added that in any case Qualcomm through its nominees applied for only one licence in a circle as per Notice Inviting Application (NIA) condition.
"NIA explicitly requires new entrants to apply for an ISP licence in the specified service area, in case the applicant is declared successful in that service area. DoT, however, seems to have a different interpretation," Qualcomm said in a statement.
WBBS applied for licences as nominee of Qualcomm in each service area where the company won the spectrum.
