NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court has issued notice to the Centre on separate petitions of telecom operators- Vodafone, Airtel and Loop Mobile-against the Department of Telecommunication’s decision not to extend their 2G licenses beyond November 2014 on existing terms.
DoT was asked to file responses before 29 August when the case will come up for hearing, Justice Rajiv Shakdhar said.
Vodafone India had moved the court challenging the telecom department’s refusal last month to renew its licenses for the Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata circles.
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Vodafone has around 24 MHz of spectrum in these three circles for which licenses were given in 1994 for a period of 20 years. These licenses expire in November 2014.
Vodafone’s plea said DoT has arbitrarily rejected its application for extension which will cause grave inconvenience to millions of customers in these three circles.
Vodafone India Ltd is taking all required actions, including legal, to ensure extension and continuity of its licenses in Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata, under the provisions of policy and license and repeated assurances by DoT and the Communications and Information Technology Ministry in the past, the telecom company said.
The DoT rejected the demand of Vodafone which had sought extension of its license under Clause 4.1 of the license agreement and asked it to bid for new airwaves if he wishes to continue services in these areas.
The government can extend its license by 10 years at one time if the request is made during the 19th year of license period, the operator claimed.
