The tussle between basic and cellular telecom operators took a new turn on Monday with Sunil Mittal-owned Bharti Group becoming a party in the WLL vs cellular case, for which a final hearing began in the Telecom Dispute Settlement and Appellate Tribunal.   

Bharti's plea in the case is significant as the group offers both basic and cellular services in various parts of the country.

Meanwhile, TDSAT has alloted two and a half days to cellular operators and other individual cellular companies to argue their case.

Senior advocate Ram Jethmalani will argue the case on behalf of Cellular Operators Association while Kapil Sibal would argue on behalf of Reliance Infocomm, which had recently launched its WLL based limited mobile services in 17 states.

Speaking on behalf of COAI, C S Vaidyanathan said some part of the business of cellular operators was impacted by the entry of WLL based limited mobile service providers.

"How much business is impacted is a matter of debate," he added.

After the arguements by COAI are over, the TDSAT would allot time for basic telecom operators, represented by Association of Basic Telecom Operators and other individual service providers like Reliance, to argue their case on the issue.