New Delhi: The Telecom Ministry on Friday said it will soon take action against service providers who have entered into roaming agreements for 3G services as the pacts are in violation of licence terms and conditions.
"DoT will soon take action on operators who have entered into 3G roaming agreements as it is in violation of the terms and conditions of the licensing agreement," Telecom Secretary R Chandrashekhar told reporters after a meeting of the Telecom Commission.
The issue pertains to the pact among major service providers, including Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Essar and Idea Cellular, for providing a 3G roaming network on a pan-India basis.
Other service providers, like Tata Teleservices and Aircel, had entered into a similar agreements to offer services in six circles.
The Department of Telecom (DoT) had also sough legal opinion on this matter and the law ministry had also supported DoT's view.
In an internal note, the DoT had said the roaming agreement among telecom companies for 3G services would lead to significant loss of revenue for the government.
There may also be an impact on revenues from spectrum usage charge collected from operators, the note added.
The chiefs of three leading telecom firms -- Bharti, Idea and Vodafone -- had then sought Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's intervention in the dispute over 3G roaming pact, else they had said they would surrender spectrum.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, on his part, had assured the industry that the government will look into their concerns and formulate forward-looking policies to sustain growth in the sector.
PTI
First Published: Friday, December 09, 2011, 23:06