Delhi HC refuses stay order on spectrum allocation process

New Delhi, Dec 24 (UNI) The Delhi High court today refused to stay the order on spectrum allocation process initiated by the Department of Telecom (DoT) to the four GSM mobile operators, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Idea and Spice.

Justice Sanjiv Khanna refused to grant any stay in the matter and posted the matter to January 3, as the matter needs indepth hearing.

The contention of GSM players is that the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal's (TDSAT) December 12 decision to stay the government's process of awarding new licences and allocating airwaves to mobile firms, who had applied before September 25, 2007, would be adverse to the existing GSM players.

Appearing for the GSM lobby, Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), senior lawyers Ram Jethmalani and Fali Nariman approached the Delhi High Court, against TDSAT's interim order not to stay the spectrum allocation process.

''The Department of Telecom's (DoT) decision is an attempt to pass off the second and new GSM license to CDMA operators in the garb of dual technology allocation,'' the COAI had said in a statement issued on the 21st of this month.

For the smaller operators, who have been waiting for the start-up spectrum for a long time, these are anti-consumer conditions as this will delay the entry of new players wherby there will be no competition, Mr Jethmalani said.

He also contended that there seems to be a big scam coming up, therefore, urgent intervention of the court is needed.

UNI