As the world is slowly moving on to the 4G LTE networks, India is still grappling with issues between the government and the carriers.
The 2010 auction of the 3G networks in India had managed to get a lot of attention and it still does as the Indian Telecoms tribunal gave a split verdict on Tuesday regarding the Carriers offering 3G services beyond their licensed zones via a mutual pact.
The tribunal could only arrive at a mixed verdict, with one vote in favour of the government while the other to the carriers. The tribunal has directed the carriers to appeal at a higher court.
The verdict will have a huge impact on India’s top three carriers consisting of Bharti’s Airtel, Vodafone India and Idea Cellular which has won licenses in 13, 11 and 9 zones respectively.
The carriers were dishing out services to their consumers in those areas where they had not bought any licenses via mutual aggrement between the carriers themselves, to which the Telecom Ministry objected in December, 2010 stating that the same is not allowed and the carriers can only serve in the other circles only once they hae acquired the licenses cor them as well.
It were the smaller players like Tata Docomo and Aircel which first objected to this directive and filed an appeal in the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT), after which the top three carriers joined them as well.
Now it seems that the government and carriers are set to get locked in a long battle before the ruling from the higher court resolves the dispute. With the minimum base price for an individual circle is around Rs. 35 billion, no wonder the carriers are willing to co-operate between themselves rather than buying licenses from the government.
It’s only very recently we have seen the 3G prices come down marginally, becoming slightly more affordable for the common public. But if the verdict goes in favour of the government rest assured the 3G prices will go up again.
