AGR case: SC asks DoT to apprise about the basis of spectrum sharing done by telcos

The Supreme Court on Friday directed the Department of Telecom (DoT) to apprise it by Saturday the basis of spectrum sharing done by telecom companies and how much is the liability of the sharers. The top court asked the secretary of DoT to file a specific affidavit apprising it about who was using the spectrum from the date of grant of license and from which date the respective sharing of spectrum has taken place. A bench of Justices Arun Mishra, S Abdul Nazeer and M R Shah posted the matter for further hearing on August 24 and asked the DoT what was the amount paid by Reliance Jio for using 23 per cent of Reliance Communication (RCom’s) spectrum.

“The DoT is required to file an affidavit, specifically by tomorrow i.e. by August 22, 2020, pointing out on the basis of sharing arrangement, how much is the liability of the sharers from the date of sharing and how much they have paid and as per our Judgment, what are the arrears, which are required to be paid on the basis of sharing arrangement by respective sharers,” the bench said.