Just a day before the telecom tribunal's verdict allowing 3G intra-circle roaming services among operators, RCom signed an agreement with Tata Tele and Aircel.  A coincidence?

The Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) on Tuesday upheld plea of Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular to provide 3G intra-circle roaming (ICR) services. The telecom tribunal also quashed the cumulative penalty of Rs1,200 crore imposed on them by Department of Telecom (DoT).

The TDSAT said that 3G ICR agreement signed by Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular is not violative of licence agreement. "We are allowing all the petitions," said a TDSAT bench headed by Justice Aftab Alam.

However, interestingly, just on Monday, Reliance Communications (RCom), owned by Anil Ambani, announced strategic inter-circle roaming partnerships with other telecom companies to offer non-stop and best-in-class pan-India 3G services to its GSM customers while roaming.

While the statement issued by RCom does not mention names of its partners, according to media reports, the other two partners in this tri-partite agreement are Tata Teleservices Ltd and Aircel. RCom and Aircel have permits for 3G services in 13 out of 22 service areas while Tata Teleservices has permit in nine circles.

Another interesting fact is earlier in December 2011, both Tata Tele and Aircel had immediately called off their agreements after the Department of Telecom (DoT) issued notice to five operators, including these two. (Govt to telcos to discontinue 3G roaming pacts)

Apart from Tata Tele and Aircel, DoT issued notice to Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea on 23 December 2011 asking them to stop their 3G ICR services within 24 hours and report compliance but the order was challenged by telecom operators.

Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular had approached the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) against DoT order to stop 3G intra-circle roaming agreement under which they had also agreed to acquire customers in area where they did not win spectrum.

Airtel sought access to Vodafone's 3G network in four service area- Maharashtra, Kolkata, Haryana and UP East.

Vodafone accessed six 3G circles of Airtel- Assam, Bihar, Karnataka, North East, Rajasthan and UP West besides seven circles of Idea Cellular- Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, UP West and Punjab. Idea is yet to start 3G service in Punjab.

Under the agreement, Idea Cellular secured right to provide 3G service using Vodafone's network in Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Chennai and Kolkata.

RCom circles comprise Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Punjab, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa, Assam, North East, Jammu & Kashmir.

With this agreement, RCom gets access to five uncommon service areas — Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and UP East — where Aircel has presence. Its agreement with TTSL gives it access to Maharashtra, Gujarat, Haryana and UP (West).

The partnership gives Aircel and Tata Teleservices access to the expensive service areas of Delhi and Mumbai where RCom has permits.

Earleir, in July 2012, TDSAT gave split verdict where one of the bench member ruled in favour and other member ordered against it. The two member bench comprising the then TDSAT chairman Justice SB Sinha and member PK Rastogi differed in their findings.

Justice Sinha allowed telecom operators' plea against the government's directive to stop intra circle 3G roaming saying that it was violative of natural justice. Rastogi, however, dismissed telecom operators’ plea saying they cannot provide roaming.

DoT again issued notice to telecom operators asking them to stop 3G ICR service along with penalty cumulatively amounting to about Rs1,200 crore which was quashed by the tribunal.

Telecom operators-Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular then approached Delhi High Court which ruled in favour of DoT's decision to hold the 3G roaming pact of the telecom major as illegal.

Telecom operators then moved the Supreme Court against order of HC and sought that the case be transferred to TDSAT. The SC allowed telecom operators to move their case to TDSAT in September 2013.