Delhi High Court defers spectrum case

NEW DELHI, INDIA: The Delhi High Court today deferred till January 3 the hearing on the petition filed by Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) against the the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal’s interim order.

Leading GSM players, Airtel, Vodafone, Idea and Spice Telecom moved the court against the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal’s (TDSAT) interim order. Aircel, another member of the COAI, distanced itself from the litigation.

In the interim order passed on December 12, the TDSAT had said that 4.4 MHz of initial start-up spectrum should be allocated for the new licensed operators for commencement of service at the earliest.government's telecom spectrum allocation process.

The High Court also refused to stay the spectrum allocation process that the Department of Telecom (DoT) had already started. The Department was awarding new licences and spectrum to mobile firms, based on the interim order of the TDSAT.

The TDSAT, in its interim order, has directed the DoT to allocate spectrum to those telcos who had applied as of September 25.

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