Tribunal stays Dept of Telecom move to nix Qualcomm licence

It’s come as a twig on which US telecom chipmaker Qualcomm’s Indian wireless broadband business could float.

On Wednesday, the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) stayed the decision of the Department of Telecommunication (DoT) to deny the company internet service provider licences in Delhi, Mumbai, Haryana and Kerala circles where it had bagged broadband wireless access (BWA) spectrum through a bidding process in June last year.

DoT feels the US firm has violated the notice inviting application (NIA) norms by not applying for licences within three months of being issued the letter of intent (LoI).

In its view, Qualcomm also breached another rule by nominating four companies instead of one for ISP licence.

The tribunal’s order follows a petition filed by the US broadband firm against the DoT decision.

In its interim order, the TDSAT bench headed by Justice BS Sinha restrained DoT from allotting the BWA spectrum earmarked for Qualcomm to any other operator or forfeiting the bid amount of Rs4,900 crore paid by it to the government after winning the auction.

In its argument before the tribunal bench, Qualcomm disputed DoT’s claim that it had gone against NIA rules. It told the bench that as it had bid for four circles, it had nominated four firms for acquiring Category A ISP licences in the respective circle.

The four companies are Wireless Broadband Business Services (Delhi) Pvt Ltd, Wireless Broadband Business Services Pvt Ltd, Wireless Broadband Services (Kerala) Pvt Ltd and Wireless Broadband Business Services (Haryana) Pvt Ltd.

DoT told the tribunal, it won’t go against NIA norms and allocate spectrum to four nominees of Qualcomm.

Qualcomm and DoT officials were not available for comment.

Earlier, in response to a DNA query, Qualcomm had said that it was “in full compliance with the regulatory requirements (of the DoT).”

The US major clarified that it had directed its “nominee companies to obtain ISP licence within 90 days as per the provision of the NIA.”

The US firm has already invested a considerable amount after winning the auction to launch its wireless broadband service in India.

It said since participating in the auctions, it has been systematically empowering and strengthening the BWA and LTE ecosystems through India-specific multimode devices capable of working across heterogeneous networks.

The matter is now slated to be heard by TDSAT on October 20. The tribunal has directed the DoT to respond to Qualcomm’s plea within two weeks.