By Telecom
Lead Team: The Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal
(TDSAT) has agreed to delay a license hearing of Qualcomm.
Qualcomm had
requested to delay a license hearing so that it could go ahead with efforts to
try and resolve Rs 4.10 billion in payment demands issued to its
joint venture partner Tulip Telecom. The TDSAT said it will hear the
case again on Feb. 21.
Qualcomm’s
application for licence was rejected by DoT on the basis that it had made four
nominees for the spectrum.
The Department
of Telecom (DoT) also rejected the Qualcomm’s offer to secure the dues of
its partner Tulip Telecom to accelerate the process of issuing
licence and spectrum for BWA services to the US-based
chip-maker.
Tulip is a 13
per cent shareholder in the joint venture which had bid for Broadband Wireless
Access (BWA) spectrum along with Qualcomm, according to a report by Dow
Jones.
The DoT
informed the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT)
that Qualcomm cannot secure the dues of its partner by way of bank
guarantee.
The DoT has
given Tulip two payment demands: One for Rs 1.46 billion on November 30, 2011,
and the other for Rs 2.64 billion on February 6. However, the telecom
department rejected the U.S. company’s offer of providing Rs 1.46 billion bank
guarantee until the case is resolved.
In June 2010,
Qualcomm paid the Indian government more than $1 billion to get four bandwidth
slots to offer wireless broadband services. After getting the bandwidth slots,
Qualcomm formed four separate joint ventures, retaining a 74 percent stake in
each company.
Qualcomm had
bagged BWA spectrum for Delhi, Mumbai, Haryana and Kerala circles and LoIs were
allotted to it.