The A-Vo-Id Cartel comprising of Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular intensified its war on cancellation of GSM Spectrum awarded to Tata DoCoMo / Tele Services during the 2G Spectrum Scam under then Telecommunications Minister A. Raja and Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh. The fresh onslaught begins today as the A-Vo-Id cartel is Armed with legal ammunition from Sr. Advocate F.S Nariman who has given his opinion as under,
It is clear that the spectrum allocated to Tata Teleservices was quashed by the Supreme Court. In the view thereof, it is permissible for the querist (COAI) to take all steps that are consequential to cancellation of spectrum.
The A-Vo-Id Cartel is writing to DoT to cancel the GSM Specturm awarded to Tata DoCoMo during the Spectrum Scam. If the corrupt DoT restores to more corruption and doesn’t cancel the spectrum, A-Vo-Id operators have decided to block all calls to Tata DoCoMo GSM network.
Idea Cellular had earlier approached the Supreme Court for a directive to DoT to include the GSM Spectrum of Tata DoCoMo in the forthcoming Spectrum Auction. However, the Supreme Court had dismissed the petition on Feb-15-2013 stating
No further order is required to be passed in this petition and the same is disposed of as such
A-Vo-Id Cartel is backing its claim on one of the Press Releases issued by the DoT on Jan-10-2008 for which their legal expert has stated as under,
The Supreme Court has cancelled all spectrum allocations pursuant to the two press releases dated January 10, 2008, and no exception has been made with respect to Tata Teleservices
In my opinion, the Honorable Supreme Court should have then specifically added the list of all operators whose spectrum allotment should be cancelled to its judegement. With Nira Radia tapes in the Public Domain it is beyond doubt that Tata DoCoMo engaged in corruption & lobbying with A. Raja for obtaining telecom spectrum.
Even if the A-Vo-Id Cartel loses the case, it is likely to create panic amongst Tata DoCoMo subscribers. Will Cyrus Mistry the new Tata Group Chairman sail through this high tide as the Tata family’s trusted Sr. Advocate’s opinion is against the Tata Group.