The Delhi High Court on Monday refused to stay the process of spectrum allocation by the Indian government to the cellular telephone companies under cross-over technology as demanded by Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI).

After hearing preliminary arguments, Justice Geeta Mittal advanced the date of hearing and listed the matter for January 21.

Final arguments

The court said it would be hearing the final arguments on January 21, instead of on January 31, the scheduled day. The government in an application said the spectrum had been allocated on the basis of the recommendation of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) made on August 28, 2007.

“Additional GSM Spectrum beyond the contractual allocation (6.2 MHz) is to be allocated in multiple of 1 MHz as per eligibility of the telecom operators,” said the application filed by the government.

Petitioner COAI demanded a stay on the allocation process, which issued awarded letters of intent to Anil Ambani-led Reliance Communications, Tata Teleservices and other GSM telecom operators.

CDMA companies

Under the cross-over technology, Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) companies like Reliance Communications and Tata Teleservices can now offer GSM services under the same license.

The court also issued notices to the Union government, RCom, Tata Teleservices and others to file their replies to the plea of COAI, which represents GSM players such as Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Idea Cellular opposing the allocation of spectrum to GSM operators.

The Department of Telecom, on January 10, had issued letters of intent to the eligible new aspirants and also approved GSM spectrum allotment to RCom. Reliance, through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Reliance Telecom, already offers GSM services in the remaining eight circles. This implies that RCom’s plans of offering both GSM and CDMA services on a pan-India basis has finally be translated into a reality.