OUR CORRESPONDENT

New Delhi, Feb. 28: In a relief to Idea Cellular and Spice Communications, the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Applellate Tribunal (TDSAT) today said the priority for issuing licences and subsequent spectrum should be considered according to the date of application and not from the date of payment of the fee for spectrum.

The government, however, said the TDSAT had no jurisdiction to hear Idea Cellular and Spice Communication's pleas as they were yet to be awarded licences for some of the circles and the ongoing fight could not be considered as one between the licensor (government) and the licensee.

Both Idea and Spice had applied for telecom licences in mid-2006, which kept them ahead of other players in the queue for licences and spectrum until January 2008, when the department of telecom (DoT) changed its spectrum priority norm.

Officials of the DoT, however, said the date of application had no meaning as most players were issued permits simultaneously, and in all probability, spectrum would also be allotted in a similar fashion.

Idea Cellular today got licences for eight circles, making it a pan-India operator. The company was given a licence for the Punjab circle on Wednesday. It already operates in 13 telecom circles in the country. B.K. Modi-promoted Spice Telecom, which was given the letter of intent last month for five circles, is likely to get licences for the remaining 10 circles for which it applied today. The company already operates in Punjab and Karnataka.

TDSAT chairman Justice Arun Kumar directed DoT to consider the seniority of Spice from August 31, 2006, when it had applied for a unified access service licence and Idea's from June 26, 2006.

Last month, in a sudden change of policy, the DoT said spectrum would be awarded to the nine new entrants based on who paid the entry fee first. This resulted in a change in the pecking order for allocating spectrum, and companies such as Videocon-owned Datacom and Swan, in which Reliance Communications holds a minority stake, came to the front of the queue as they had paid first.

According to the earlier first come, first served policy, priority for spectrum was based on the date of application for a telecom licence. This led to Idea Cellular and Spice dragging the DoT to both TDSAT as well as Delhi High Court against what they termed as "faulty implementation of the first come, first served policy" by the DoT.

Source: http://www.telegraphindia.com