Telecom tribunal TDSAT on Saturday restrained the government from banning
3G inter-circle roaming (ICR) pacts among service providers and directed DoT not to take any "coercive steps" against them till next date of hearing on January 3.
The sectoral tribunal issued notice to the Department of Telecom, asking it to file a reply by December 31.
It asked the telecom operators -
Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Idea Cellular, Tata Teleservices and Aircel - to file rejoinder over DoT' reply within three days. They also have to submit their 3G ICR agreements to TDSAT.
"Till the next date fixed (January 3), the respondent (DoT) is restrained from taking any coercive steps against petitioners (telecom companies) to enforce the impugned order dated December 23, 2011," said the TDSAT in its order.
The Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal also turned down the plea of DoT to restrain the operators from adding new 3G customers till the next hearing.
The tribunal has directed to put the matter up for framing of issues on February 2.
TDSAT's order followed a special hearing over a batch of petitions filed by Bharti, Vodafone and Idea. The tribunal also allowed two other operators Aircel and Tata Tele to become party to the case.
On Friday, DoT had issued notices to the telecom firms saying their 3G roaming pacts are illegal and sought their response within a day.
Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Sighvi, representing Vodafone, submitted that the operators hold Unified Access Services Licence (UASL) which allows them to offer all types of services including voice, data and video.
"There is no other licence required by any operators for providing any type of access service including any high speed data service (3G)," said Singhvi, adding that UASL also allows them to enter into roaming agreements with other operators.
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