The Delhi High Court has issued an order to halt the execution of a notice issued by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to the company to stop 3G services in seven circles across the country.

The DoT has ordered India’s leading telecom service provider, Bharti Airtel to halt providing 3G services in all the telecom circles where it does not hold required licences but offers the services under agreements with other telecom players. The company had earlier challenged the order in the Delhi High Court.

The telecommunications ministry had determined that such spectrum sharing pacts were illegal under the terms of the licensing contracts. It has asked Bharti Airtel to pay a penalty of $65 million for entering into such illegal pacts. DoT continued to defend its decision to declare 3G roaming agreements between private operators as illegal. The companies are allowed to continue services until a further order through their roaming agreements.

Bharti Airtel had won 3G spectrum in 13 service areas, while Idea won access to 11 and the Vodafone acquired nine, out of the country’s 22 service areas. The telecom ministry had informed the companies earlier that it is illegal to offer 3G services beyond their permitted zones through mutual agreements between the service providers.

Bharti, Vodafone and Idea have claimed that their mutual roaming agreements compile with the telecom licensing rules.