New Delhi: Bharti Airtel on Friday approached the Supreme Court challenging the Delhi High Court's order giving its nod to the Centre's decision holding the 3G roaming pact of the telecom major as illegal. The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) on March 15 had issued a notification restraining Bharti from providing 3G intra-circle roaming facilities in seven circles where it did not have the spectrum and also levied a penalty of Rs 350 crore (Rs 50 crore per circle) for violating the licence terms and conditions.
The appeal against Thursday's high court order was mentioned before a bench headed by Justice RM Lodha which decided to put up the matter in the mentioning list for Monday. The telecom major has challenged the decision of the division bench of the high court which had set aside its single's judge's March 18 order staying the DoT notification. The high court's division bench passed the order on a plea by Reliance Communications Ltd challenging the single judge's order saying it has been incurring huge losses for the 3G on daily basis and Bharti has been using it free of cost.
The bench allowed Reliance's plea to be impeded as a party in the case filed by Bharti before the single judge. Reliance in its plea had said, "declare and hold 3G intra-circle roaming agreements entered into between Bharti and other service providers as illegal and in violation of Article 14, 19 and 21 of the Constitution."
"It has paid thousands of
06:39 PM, Apr 05, 2013
Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal on Thursday said the government will try to start national free roaming for customers before October this year. "Trai has floated a consultation paper on it (national free roaming). So when Trai's recommendations come and after that, we will try to start free roaming before October," Sibal told reporters on the sidelines of the launch of National Internet Registry (NIR) here. ...
02:25 PM, Mar 07, 2013
Bharti Airtel launched a new roaming scheme for its prepaid customers in Delhi which will enable them to receive free incoming calls in five states. ...
08:23 AM, Mar 06, 2013
Telecom regulator Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has floated a consultation paper to bring down the rates of mobile calls and SMSes that are currently charged from a customer on availing roaming facility. Among various options to reduce or remove additional cost burden on roaming customers, TRAI has proposed a new norm -- Home Price Rule -- wherein a mobile subscriber should be charged the same amount that he...
06:52 PM, Feb 26, 2013
New Delhi: Airtel has launched international roaming plans for post-paid customers who are visiting the United States, offering up to five hours of free incoming calls and back home calls at a discount of up to 87 per cent. "... the launch of three new international roaming packs for post-paid mobile customers travelling to United States of America. Customers can get up to 5 hours of free incoming calls while...
01:27 PM, Nov 28, 2012
New Delhi: Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal today said that mobile phone subscribers will not have to pay roaming charges from next year. "From next year. Our secretary has told you that it will be free from next year," Sibal said here in response to a query on the timing of removing roaming charges as proposed in the National Telecom Policy 2012. The Minister was speaking to the media on the...
01:34 PM, Sep 24, 2012
New Delhi: The Law Ministry has opined that the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) can ask mobile phone service providers to stop their present 3G roaming pacts. Additional Solicitor General AS Chandhiok in the opinion stated that the split verdict of sectoral tribunal TDSAT on the 3G roaming pacts does not constitute a judgement in law as the same can not be implemented, official sources said. Accordingly, sources added, ASG is...
07:39 PM, Aug 16, 2012
New Delhi: The Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) looking into the 3G roaming mobile services on Tuesday gave a split verdict in the case with its chairman directing the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to send out fresh notices to telecom operators while another judge ruling that the pact formed between telecom majors on 3G must be ended. Leading telecos like Bharti, Vodafone and Idea had entered into an...
11:58 AM, Jul 03, 2012
New Delhi: Telecom major Vodafone India launched a new international roaming package under which its subscribers can avail up to 60 per cent discount on voice, data and SMS charges across 40 countries. Subscribers can get the package activated on a one-time rental fee of Rs 1,499 valid for 30 days, which will be charged in the customer's bill and there is no limit on the usage, Vodafone India said...
05:31 PM, Jun 26, 2012
New Delhi: The Cabinet on Thursday approved a new telecom policy that proposes to abolish roaming charges on mobile phones and allow users to retain the same number across the country. The Cabinet approved the National Telecom Policy (NTP) 2012, which aims to provide free roaming to telecom users and allow them to retain the mobile number even outside their circles without having to pay any extra charge. Here's the...
10:59 PM, May 31, 2012
New Delhi: The Cabinet is likely to consider on Thursday the National Telecom Policy (NTP) that provides for abolition of roaming charges and allows users to retain the same number across the country. Last week, the Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, deferred the NTP pending clarifications on certain aspects by the Department of Telecom (DoT). Departments under ministries like Finance and Commerce had raised objections on the new...
08:33 PM, May 30, 2012
New Delhi: The government is likely to take final decision on Thursday on the National Telecom Policy, which if approved will pave the way for abolishing of roaming charges and allowing users to use retain the same number across the country. "NTP is part of Cabinet's meeting agenda tomorrow (Thursday). We are expecting a positive decision on the same," a senior government official said. The policy, if approved, will replace...
09:05 AM, May 24, 2012
New Delhi: Telecom Ministry on Friday issued notices to three leading telecom firms - Bharti airtel, Vodafone and Idea - asking them to stop their 3G roaming agreements with immediate effect as the pacts are illegal and has sought their response within 24 hours. "DoT today issued notices to three operators who are having 3G roaming arrangements among themselves without having 3G spectrum in that circles. The Department has also...
06:49 PM, Dec 23, 2011
New Delhi: Coming down heavily on operators for violating licence norms, the Telecom Ministry has asked service providers to discontinue their 3G roaming agreements and is also contemplating imposing penalty on them. The decision comes after the unanimous view of telecom regulator TRAI, Law Ministry and DoT that such roaming agreement was in violation of the telecom licences. Leading operators like Bharti, Vodafone and Idea had entered into agreement with...
12:52 PM, Dec 22, 2011
New Delhi: Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal will soon meet telecom industry leaders to work out an amicable resolution to the dispute between the government and service providers over a 3G roaming pact. "I will meet with the industry players soon to discuss the 3G roaming issue, industry players have sought time and I am hopeful to resolve the issue," Sibal told reporters on the sidelines of the Skoch summit on...
01:25 PM, Nov 29, 2011
This week on The Week That Wasn't, Cyrus Broacha brings the funny side to BJP leader LK Advani's Rath Yatra, the BlackBerry outage and the new Telecom policy. ...
11:27 AM, Oct 16, 2011
Mumbai: India will let cellular carriers share airwaves and allow for consolidation in a crowded industry that has been battered by ferocious competition and a multi-billion-dollar scandal, under new proposals announced on Monday. The draft policy will "facilitate consolidation in the converged telecom service sector while ensuring sufficient competition," Telecoms Minister Kapil Sibal said as he announced several new initiatives for the sector in a draft of the policy. Many...
08:47 AM, Oct 11, 2011
Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal on Monday unveiled a draft of the new telecom policy that will focus on transparency. ...
08:37 AM, Oct 11, 2011
New Delhi: Announcing the draft National Telecom Policy (NTP), Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal on Monday said that there will be one nation-one licence policy across the country, which means removal of roaming charges. As per the draft NTP unveiled by the Government on Monday, spectrum allocation will also be de-linked from licences and radiowaves would be made available at market-determined prices. Announcing that revenue generation for the Government will have...
05:20 PM, Oct 10, 2011
New Delhi: Speaking on the new telecom policy on Monday, Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal said that there will be one nation-one licence policy across the country, which means removal of roaming charges. Draft National Telecom Policy 2011 aims for 'one nation-one licence'; targets full MNP and free roaming. Sibal also said that he wants India to become a hub for telecommunication. "Draft NTP targets broadband on demand," Sibal said. The...
03:55 PM, Oct 10, 2011
