Telcos mull next move in 2G dispute

NEW DELHI, INDIA: A tribunal refused to intervene on Tuesday in a dispute between telecoms carriers and their regulator over 2G spectrum fees, leaving the operators to decide whether to seek a court hearing.

The telecoms regulator's proposed one-time fee for spectrum beyond the contracted 6.2 Mhz would cost Bharti Airtel 40 billion rupees ($839 million) while Vodafone Essar would have to pay 14 billion rupees, one lawyer said during the Tuesday's hearing.

The carriers, which also included Idea Cellular, had asked the telecoms tribunal to restrain the government from making a final decision on the regulator's proposals. The tribunal refused to intervene, however, saying the spectrum fees are only at the proposal stage.

Bharti, Vodafone Essar and Idea, which together account for nearly half of India's nearly 600 million users, withdrew their plea on Tuesday, lawyers said.

While their next move was not clear, two sources involved in the dispute said the tribunal had given them liberty to file applications in an "appropriate forum," which means the firms are free to approach a court.

The telecoms regulator earlier this month called for carriers to pay a one-time fee for high-bandwidth 2G radio-spectrum that they won several years ago based on the recently-determined third-generation (3G) spectrum price.

The regulator's proposals must be accepted by the government before becoming law. If implemented, they would hit companies already on the hook for billions of dollars for buying third-generation spectrum in a recently concluded auction where bidding far exceeded expectations.

The regulator's proposals drew howls of protest from carriers, with market leader Bharti calling them "shocking, arbitrary and retrograde" and urging the government to reject them.

Telecoms minister Andimuthu Raja said on May 14 the government would listen to mobile phone operators' concerns before making a decision on 2G spectrum fees.