The telecom tribunal on Tuesday dismissed government's claim to have privilege over documents and correspondence between Department of Telecommunications and Telecom regulator TRAI, which led to the decision to allow basic operators to offer limited mobility services.
Telecom Dispute Settlement and Appellate Tribunal has asked DoT to submit the required documents, and the government has been given time till Wednesday to decide on whether or not to disclose the files containing confidential material or appeal against TDSAT's order.
The tribunal has, however, clarified that its directive to the government to produce documents did not indicate its opinion in the ongoing case -- WLL vs cellular services.
These documents relate to the decision making process of DoT after the new telecom policy was announced in 1999.
Despite its clear determination, that basic operators could not offer mobile services, even limited, DoT in October 2000 wrote to TRAI asking it to reconsider the option of allowing mobility to basic operators, cellular operators claimed.
The cellular operators demanded that DoT should place in tribunal documents relating to Telecom Commission's recommendations, correspondence between TRAI and DoT and the recommendations of various industry chambers on the issue.