Tata Teleservices has protested strongly against ASSOCHAM’s letter seeking cancellation of its dual technology status. The company has demanded that ASSOCHAM investigate how these two letters were written in violation of norms and immediately withdraw them.

 In a letter to the industry body, Tata Teleservices has termed ASSOCHAM’s two letters last week to the Prime Minister and the Communications Minister as ones that “serve the interests of a handful of powerful members within the industry body”.

The TTL letter further points out that industry bodies such as ASSOCHAM should not write letters without confirming facts, or on matters which are sub judice. Further, it is shocking that ASSOCHAM has written a letter seeking to harm the interests of one of its own Member companies, TTL said.

 Tata Teleservices has also expressed pain that ASSOCHAM, in its letters last week, sought to give the impression that TTL and one more prominent member of AUSPI were opposed to the re-farming of spectrum in the 800 MHz and 900 MHz bands, when, in fact, both these companies strongly support it. “At the same time, for reasons best known to it, ASSOCHAM is keeping quiet on key telecom issues like excess spectrum and its retrospective charging, and is giving wrong and misleading information on spectrum re-farming to the Government,” TTL wrote in the letter.

 The letter points out that TTL’s dual technology status has been upheld by the Hon’ble TDSAT and that a subsequent appeal is pending before the Hon’ble Supreme Court for the last three years without any stay order being issued. Also, both the CAG Report of November 2010 and the CBI Chargesheet of April 2011 vividly bring out how Tata Teleservices has been victimized on the issue of allocation of spectrum. Further, the Hon’ble TDSAT has reaffirmed that TTL, which was an existing licensee, should have got its GSM spectrum on 10 January 2008 itself ahead of the new licensees of 2008, TTL said. Tata Teleservices Limited has not received spectrum in Delhi and 39 other commercially crucial districts in 9 telecom Circles, even after over four years of making the full payment.