Court puts off hearing on telecom dispute

The Supreme Court adjourned the hearing on the petition filed by the Cellular Operators' Association of India (COAI) against limited mobility and unified licence.

The hearing has been adjourned to January 13. COAI itself had applied for an adjournment on the ground that they did not get enough time to read the response filed by the basic operators.

Industry sources, however, said COAI could be buying time in order to negotiate a compensation from the government for allowing basic operators to offer cellular services.

They said with the largest cellular operator Bharti taking fresh licences under the unified regime, the cellular operators' case had weekend.

There were also talks within the industry of merging the COAI with the Association of Basic Telecom Operators (ABTO), which could not be achieved as long as the legal wrangle over limited mobility continues.

"Some of the cellular operators have clearly said that they would now prefer to compete in the market rather in court rooms. Even smaller operators have expressed reservation in funding the three year long legal process." said an industry source

However T V Ramachandran, director general, COAI denied any crisis within the COAI. "Divergent views are part of any industry body That does not mean that COAI is ending the legal recourse. This is our last chance in getting justice so we want to be prepared fully when we present our case to the Supreme Court. For this we need time," he said.