TDSAT reserves judgement on Uninor's petition

Telecom tribunal TDSAT on Thursday reserved judgement on new operator Uninor's petition challenging Telecom Ministry's drive to impose penalty on telcos that did not roll out services within the stipulated period.

Uninor is a joint venture between reality firm Unitech and telecom firm Telenor of Norway.

The company had contested the move to levy Liquidated Damages saying "DoT is singularly and solely responsible for delaying, and causing the delay in meeting the roll-out obligations - by delay in SACFA Clearance, delay in allocation of the complete start up Spectrum and introducing new and onerous mandatory requirements."

While the company is contesting the penalty charges imposed on it for ten circles, it has already paid liquidated damages for four circles under protest.

The deadline for payment of damages for the remaining six circles, for which it has been served notices, expires tomorrow.

While no date has been fixed by the TDSAT to pronounce judgement, Sources tell that the tribunal is likely to pass the order soon.

Uninor, which is among the new telecom entrants that were allotted 2G spectrum, or radio waves, by former telecom minister A Raja, is under scanner on eligibility criteria.

As per latest reports, the DoT has collected over Rs 76 crore  (Rs 760 million) penalty from new operators and is expected to get over Rs 218 crore (Rs 2.18 billion) on account of missing roll out obligations.

DoT sent notices to several firms, which got new 2G licenses bundled with start up spectrum but did not start operations in various circles.

As per the conditions of the Unified Access Service License (UASL), the telcos are required to roll-out their networks within one year from the date of allocation of spectrum.

However, this period is to be calculated by excluding delay by SACFA (Standing Advisory Committee for Frequency Allocation) clearance for allocation.

Uninor maintained that if the date of spectrum allocation and delay in obtaining SACFA clearance is properly calculated, then the company will not be liable for damages.

It said the time taken for SACFA clearance should be excluded from the delay period calculated by DoT, which has not been done.

It also said that effective date for calculating delay should be from the allocation of spectrum and not from the day of the licence agreement.