India court rules telecom tribunal has jurisdiction to hear 3G roaming dispute

An Indian court Thursday ruled that the country's telecom tribunal has the authority to hear a dispute over mobile phone companies offering third-generation roaming services in each others' service areas.

The Delhi High Court ruling came after India's Department of Telecommunications had challenged the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal's authority to hear the dispute.

"We are not inclined to interfere at this stage," said a two-judge panel of the high court's acting Chief Justice Arjan Kumar Sikri and Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw.

The court said that, while it took almost five months for the telecom department to issue a letter banning the 3G roaming services, the tribunal had, within two months, reached a stage of final hearing. The court added that, since the tribunal is hearing the case on a day-to-day basis, the final order would be given in the next few days.

Separately, the tribunal, which had stayed the ban imposed on 3G roaming services by the telecom department, Thursday extended the stay until the final order is passed. It wasn't immediately known when is the next date of hearing, though the tribunal had earlier said it would start a hearing on March 13 on the legality of such roaming agreements for 3G services.

The telecom department says that the roaming agreements are "illegal," while some wireless operators contend that the department had allowed such pacts through a clarification before 3G bandwidth auctions in 2010.
 

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