The decision of Department of Telecommunications’ decision that the 3G roaming pacts between telecom operators are illegal has resulted in the fall of shares of major telcos.

As soon as the word went around about the decision Bharti Airtel fell 4.6 per cent while Idea Cellular shares fell 3.6 per cent with the BSE sensex faelling 1.1 per cent.

The department of telecommunication (DoT) has said that the 3G roaming pacts between telecom operators are illegal. It also said that that soon the telcos will be informed about the decision. The decision was made public by DoT secretary ChadraShekhar on a televion news channel.

The immediate fall out of this decision is that the operators will now have to alter their plans to roll out 3G services causing inconvenience to the subscribers.

Recently the 3G pact has caused a debate between the service providers and the government with later saying that this would cause loss to the exchequer. Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Essar and Idea Cellular had formed a pact for providing 3G roaming services on a pan-India basis. Other service providers, like Tata Teleservices and Aircel, had also entered into similar agreements to offer 3G services in six circles.

Even prime minister recently had assured the telcos that their concerns of the telecom industry including the 3G roaming pact would addressed.