ORDER

By Aftab Alam, Chairperson The Dispute: its genesis

This batch of cases raises the question about the validity of what is loosely called as intra-circle 3G roaming. Or to put the matter in legalese: whether it is permissible for two mobile phone operators within the same service area/circle, one having its 2G network on the lower frequency 900 MHz (the primary GSM band) or 1800 MHz bands and the other, a 3G network on the higher frequency 2100 MHz band, to enter into a bilateral arrangement under which the subscribers of the former are able to roam on the 3G network of the latter?

The frequencies in 2100 MHz or 2.1 GHz (loosely called the 3G spectrum in this country) were allocated by the Central Government to different mobile phone operators on the basis of an auction. As everyone had known from before, owing to the limited availability of spectrum, no single operator was able to get the 3G spectrums in all the 22 circles in the country; some operators got the 3G spectrums in some of the circles while some others got it in the other circles. And this actually gave rise to the situation where service operators that had got the 3G spectrums in certain circles but not in other cir