COAI writes to DoT on Tata-Virgin deal

NEW DELHI, INDIA: In a move that could stall the Tata-Virgin deal, the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) has written to the Department of Telecom (DoT) seeking its response on the tie-up.

In a letter to Siddhartha Behura, secretary DoT, dated February 27, COAI has sought response from the government on the "Tata-Virgin tie-up to launch their service."

In the letter TV Ramachandran, director general, COAI stated that the present telecom policy does not either permit Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNO) or the reselling of airtime, which has raised concern among the operators.

Quoting media reports Ramachandran has raised concern about the tie-up between Tata Teleservice and Virgin Mobile.

“We would request you to give us the details of whether and when the policy has been amended to allow for introduction of MVNOs. Whether licenses for MVNOs are being issued and the names of the operators?” the letter stated.

According to industry sources Virgin is likely to make an official announcement of launch of handsets for Tata Indicom subscribers in Mumbai on March 2.

The source said that Virgin would be launching around five handsets on the Tata’s network.

According to experts this seems to be a first step for entering in the Indian telecom space as an ‘MVNO’.

“Virgin will be appointing seven distributors across the country for marketing the products,” the source added.

Meanwhile, Virgin is all set to set up their office in Delhi and Kolkata.