A telecom industry committee, set up by the government to resolve the issue of fixed-line operators offering limited mobile services, will meet Telecommunication Minister Arun Shourie on March 13 to tell him that it could not find a solution due to irrevocable differences.
Some of the committee members met in Mumbai yesterday in an attempt to iron out differences before a final meeting in New Delhi on March 13.
The meeting was attended by Hutchison Managing Director Asim Ghosh, BPL Chairman and Managing Director Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Bharti group chairman Sunil Mittal and Reliance chairman Mukesh Ambani.
"There was no solution we could arrive at. We have decided to go to Shourie on March 13 and inform him about our failure. After that, we will resume proceedings in the telecom disputes tribunal," a member of the committee said.
The committee was set up at the instance of Shourie and has representatives of the cellular telecom firms, the fixed-line operators, the public sector players as well as the department of telecommunications.
The fixed-line telecom firms are willing to support any demand by the cellular operators for compensation from the government.
In exchange, the cellular telecom operators must not oppose limited mobile services as they are interpreted by the fixed-line operators, which includes using mobile switching centres in their networks and offering roaming facilities.
But the cellular telecom operators have rejected this compromise.
They point out that no compensation is being sought from the government. They have repeated their stand that they are willing to accept the legality of a limited mobile service provided it is limited within the short-distance charging area, which is equivalent to a city or a part of a district. They will not concede to mobile switching centres or roaming facilities.
"Financial compensation is messy and the government has told us it will not accept any solution that envisages compensation. So that is out of the question," a member of the committee said.
© 2025