Supreme Court to hear Airtel's ICR plea on Monday

Bharti Airtel has filed a petition before the Supreme Court against the Delhi High Court order banning 3G intra-circle roaming in seven circles which is planned to be taken up on 8th April.

"Bharti Airtel's plea challenging the Delhi High Court order would be listed in Monday," said Supreme Court bench headed by Justice RM Lodha in its order.

On 4th April, a division bench of Delhi High Court Chief Justice D Murugesan and Justice VK Jain have vacated the stay order granted to the Airtel by its single judge bench on March 15 from stopping 3G intra-circle roaming in seven circles where it does not have spectrum.

On March 15, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) had sent a notice to Airtel to stop 3G services roaming in areas where it did not have spectrum within 72 hours. Airtel was also asked to pay a penalty of Rs 350 crore (Rs 50 crore per circle) for violating license conditions.

However, the Airtel had got a stay on the DoT order from a single-bench judge in the Delhi High Court on March 18 besides, the court had allowed Airtel to continue its 3G services in the circles where company does have own spectrum for the next hearing.

The vacation of the stay order followed a petition filed by business rival Reliance Communications, which pleaded before the court that its business was getting affected by Airtel's move.

Airtel was offering 3G services in the seven circles by signing intra-circle roaming (ICR) agreements with Vodafone India and Idea Cellular.

On 18th May 2010, the 3G spectrum auction was completed and Airtel paid Indian government Rs 12,295 crore for spectrum in 13 circles. Airtel won 3G licenses in 13 telecom circles-- Delhi, Mumbai, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka,Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh (East), Rajasthan, West Bengal, Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Assam, North East and Jammu & Kashmir.