Bsnl Seeks Board Nod To Take Spectrum Battle To Sc

[savramesh 37]

The Economic Times

11 Apr 2009, 0042 hrs IST

NEW DELHI: BSNL's top brass has sought approval from its board to approach the Supreme Court against TDSAT's recent judgment directing the DoT to withdraw additional spectrum from BSNL and MTNL.

A senior BSNL official told ToI, "The judgment is bad in law and we have no choice but to appeal it in the Supreme Court. We have strongly recommended this to the BSNL board". Ironically, DoT, which is tasked with withdrawing additional spectrum, also holds board seats in BSNL/MTNL.

"We have multiple grounds to appeal this judgment and will definitely act if DoT takes any step towards withdrawal of spectrum," says the BSNL official. Any such move could result in embarrassment for the government as it would have its operating arm (BSNL) appealing a judgement of its adjudicatory arm (TDSAT) and against potential steps taken by the licensing arm (DoT).

The TDSAT judgment deals a heavy blow to BSNL and MTNL's aspirations. In March/May 2007 the two PSUs were allocated 10 MHz of spectrum in all service areas (8 MHz in West Bengal) and 12.5 MHz to MTNL in Delhi and Mumbai respectively.

The spectrum in question here is the 2G spectrum in the 900 MHz band which is considered way superior to the 1800 MHz band.

In its judgment TDSAT has cited National Telecom Policy '99 on the principle of level playing field, which acknowledges that BSNL and MTNL will be market players, but that DoT will be responsible to "ensure level playing field between different service providers in similar situations".

The TDSAT has also noted that since the spectrum given to BSNL/MTNL was allocated only on "trial basis there should be no difficulty if we order that additional spectrum be withdrawn forthwith".

BSNL officials disagree. "Massive equipment orders have been placed in this band and any attempt to take back the spectrum will severely hurt BSNL and public interest," they argue. They also point out that the DoT is well within its rights to give trial spectrum to its own subsidiary as it deems fit. MTNL, with its low subscriber base and a higher allocation of 12.5 MHz, is even more vulnerable than BSNL in case of any withdrawal of spectrum.