New Delhi, Mar 15: The Supreme Court today witnessed a virtual telecom war when the old service providers contended spectrum alloted to them are valid and they should not be compared with new players whose licenses are under the judicial scrutiny.
Established companies Vodafone and Aircel opposed the contentions of Swan, Videocon, Shyam Telecom which had pleaded with the court that if it decides to cancel their allotment of spectrum then it should be applied retrospectively from 1995 as the natural resources have been alloted under the same policy.
"We invested money in the sector between 1994 to 2003 when the market was not even developed. These firms are born in 2008 only after getting spectrum and are getting the benefits of a market developed by us," senior advocate Abhishek Manu Sighvi, appearing for Vodafone and Aircel, said.
"It is very easy for firms born in 2008 to say that all spectrum from 1994 should be cancelled because they have to lose nothing," he said before a bench comprising justices G S Singhvi and A K Ganguly.
He submitted even the government in its report had said they should have got the spectrum in 2006.
"Even the CAG report and Justice Patil committee report have nothing about us," said Singhvi adding additional spectrum issued to them beyond 6.2 Mhz was legal.
Hitting out at rival operator Tata Tele Services which has challenged allocation of additional spectrum beyond the terms and condition of license, he said the plea was dismissed by telecom tribunal TDSAT and till date it has not been challenged.
He further submitted they had applied in 2006 and the Letter of Intent was issued. However, spectrum was alloted in January 2008, along with the new entrants.
Meanwhile, Chennai-based operator S-Tel, which has been granted licenses for six circles, denied allegations of arm twisting by the DoT for challenging government's decision to prepone cutt-off date.
S-Tel, a joint venture between the Shiva group and Bahrain Telecom submitted that its license was not cancelled by DoT but its services were suspended on security reason.
"Issue was of equipment from Chinese vendors and involvement of Chinese engineers in the operation and the issue was resolved by involving local engineers in the operations," the company said.
On March 3, the apex court had ordered CBI to probe the restoration of 2G spectrum licence to S-Tel after its cancellation earlier on grounds of threat to national security.
The bench had directed DoT to place the files of S-Tel of cancellation and subsequent restoration of its 2G spectrum licence.
Meanwhile, TRAI also started its arguments in this matter today and defended the various recommendations made by the regulator from time to time on first-come and first-serve to no capping of players in the market.
Senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, appearing for the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, submitted it had recommended in 2007 for no auction of 2G spectrum, keeping in mind the required growth of the sector. PTI
