Airtel 3G subscribers may lose roaming facility in 3 days

The department of telecommunication (DoT) has asked India's ace telecom service provider Bharti Airtel to halt intra-circle 3G roaming within three days. This could also mean operators losing their spectrum in respective circles.

The DoT's decision comes in the wake of the telco offering 3G services in circles where it didn't have airwaves. In 2010's 3G auction, Airtel won 13 licences, Vodafone got 9 and Idea obtained 11 licenses. These telcos formed an alliance within themselves to offer 3G services in circles where they didn't purchase airwaves.

This is DoT's third notice to Airtel on the 3G roaming issue.

3G services, till now, have got lackluster response amongst subscribers in India. The service that promises high speed data constitutes close to 5 per cent of the country's total mobile subscribers' base. The 3G subscribers relatively form a small chunk who travel to other service areas.

The 2012 statistics suggest that Airtel has more than 4 million active 3G users; Vodafone has over 2 million; while Idea has 3 million 3G users.

Earlier, telecom secretary R Chandrasekhar had told CIOL that 3G roaming pacts were impacting the spectrum auction. "Conditions cannot be fixed retrospectively. If this flexibility is given, then we would have discovered a different price," added top official.

DoT, after terming it illegal, has been repeatedly asking telcos to renounce intra-circle 3G roaming pacts. It has, with the approval from telecom Minister Kapil Sibal, slapped Rs 50 crore penalties in seven circles.

Acting on an Idea Cellular petition, the Delhi High Court early this week stayed the government's move to prohibit intra-circle roaming.

Airtel, however, didn't react to CIOL query while Vodafone is yet to comment.