DoT to study Tata-Virgin deal

NEW DELHI, INDIA: The deal between Tata and Virgin is likely to face a rough weather ahead, with Department of Telecom (DoT) mulling over an investigation into the pros and cons of the deal, through which Tata Teleservices is poised to offer Virgin-branded mobile services in the country.

It is learnt that the Vigilance wing of the DoT is likely to submit a report in two weeks on the details of the Tata-Virgin deal.

Making matter worse, the department would also look in to licensing details on the offering to be made by Virgin mobile in India.

The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) has shot off another letter to DoT seeking the details of the deal.

Speaking to CyberMedia News, TV Ramachandran, director general, COAI said that the offering by Virgin is a violation of the licensing norms.

“It is a back-door entry as an MVNO. There is no licensing agreement on the services to be offered by Virgin, which will buy bulk of handsets from other handset manufacturer and sell it off to customers of Tata. We have written to the government on the same and are waiting the reply,” he said.

He said that the mobile operators in India would welcome healthy competition by companies offering services under the purview of the rules and regulations.

Meanwhile, in a related development, Tata Teleservices has written a letter to the Siddhartha Behura, secretary DoT accusing some of the GSM operators of violating the license norms by outsourcing network and IT management to foreign companies.

According to a source in DoT the letter alleged Bharti Airtel for violating licensing terms.

Stating the outsourcing of infrastructure, the Tata letter has questioned the outsouring of infrastructure by some of the mobile operators.

“We request you to advise us to the clause of the license under which this outsourcing is permitted and also whether we can also go ahead with this arrangement of giving access to active infrastructure and network to foreign companies, to manage and operate capacities on real time basis,” the Tata letter said.

According to DoT source, the department would also look into the service portfolio, if Virgin can offer services without a license.