The Supreme court on 18th December denied stay on the decision of the TDSAT to cancel the penalty of Rs. 1,200 crore imposed on the private telecom operators Airtel, Vodafone and Idea for illegally providing 3G services in the circles, where they did not get the spectrum through auction. The service was provided by them through agreements with other private companies. This was opposed by DOT as illegal and imposed the penalty. But the TDSAT, on appeal gave the decision to allow the roaming. It was against this decision that DOT filed the appeal in the Supreme Court.

The present decision is subject to the final judgment of the Supreme Court which is yet to be delivered.

It is alleged that DOT /BSNL who have much to lose in the TDSAT decision, have not effectively dealt with the case.