The Supreme Court has restrained Bharti Airtel from providing 3G roaming services to new customers in seven circles where it does not have license. These seven circles included Kolkata, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh East and Kerala.

The apex court also issued notices to the Centre and Reliance Communications Ltd, seeking their response within two weeks on a petition filed by Bharti Airtel. Airtel has challenged a Delhi HC order, which gave nod to DoT’s decision to hold the 3G roaming pact of Airtel as illegal.

The matter will be taken up hearing on May 9. It can be recalled that the DoT had levied a penalty of Rs 350 crore on Airtel for allegedly violating the licence terms and conditions.