The Supreme Court on Friday deferred till Monday (November 10) the hearing on the appeals filed by Cellular Operators' Association of India against a telecom tribunal verdict allowing WLL, even as basic operators withdrew their appeal against levying of additional entry fee for WLL mobile services.
Cellular operators had last month filed an appeal in the apex court against Telecom Dispute Settlement and Appellate Tribunal's majority judgement dated August 8 which had allowed limited mobility or WLL services to basic operators.
COAI had sought upholding of TDSAT chairman's minority judgement which declared the service illegal.
"Large WLL (M) operators were offering full-fledged cellular mobile services with impunity and no corrective or punitive action had been taken against these violations," COAI had alleged at that time.
Meanwhile, the Association of Basic Telecom Operators withdrew its appeal in the Supreme Court, which pertained to levy of additional entry fee for WLL mobile services as recommended by TDSAT.
ABTO said its decision to withdraw the appeal was aimed at creating a "litigation-free" environment in the sector.
ABTO had filed its petition in the Supreme Court last month seeking directions to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India against proposing such levies.
According to Trai's calculations, which have been accepted in toto by the government, Reliance Infocomm, which operates in 17 circles would have to pay Rs 221 crore (Rs 2.21 billion), while Tatas would have to pay Rs 129 crore (Rs 1.29 billion).
The government has accepted Trai recommendations for unifying basic and cellular licences, a move that would enable WLL operators to offer full mobile services after payment of an entry fee.
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