A temporary relief for Bharti Airtel, as Supreme Court granted a stay order on 3G roaming case and asked Department of Telecom (DoT) not to take any action against India’s top telecom operator till Thursday April 11th, the next court hearing.
Earlier, Department of Telecom (DoT) has asked Airtel to withdraw its 3G services in seven telecom circles where they don’t have 3G spectrum license and was providing 3G services through intra-circle roaming agreement with its rival other operators, Vodafone and Idea Cellular. Bharti Airtel appealed against this on court and got a temporarily stay order on the government decision. But on April 4th, Delhi High Court lifted the stay order and asked Airtel to stop its 3G service in 7 Telecom Circles.
Recently only DOT issued notice to India’s major telecom operators Vodafone India and Idea Cellular to stop offering 3G intra-circle roaming (ICR) agreements that enabled these operators to offer customers 3G service in telecom circles where they don’t have 3G spectrum license.
Bharti Airtel have won 3G spectrum license in 13 out of 22 telecom circles in 2010 and was providing 3G services in seven telecom circles through roaming agreement with Vodafone and Idea Cellular.