The Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) today ruled in favour of private telecom operators by saying that 3G intra-circle-roaming (ICR) does not violate condition of licence agreement. A TDSAT bench headed by Justice Aftab Alam quashed all penalties imposed by Dept of Telecom on Bharti Airtel, Idea and Vodafone for providing the 3G facilities through ICR agreements under which they had agreed to acquire customers in area where they did not win spectrum. DoT had issued notice to telecom operators asking them to stop 3G ICR service and imposed penalty,cumulativelyamounting to about 1,200 crore Rupees.Telecom operators-Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular approached Delhi High Court which ruled in favour of DoT's decision to hold the 3G roaming pact of the telecom operators as illegal.Telecom operators moved the Supreme Court against the High Court order and sought that the case be transferred to TDSAT. The Apex court allowed them to move their case to TDSAT in September 2013.