Users may not be able to use high speed Internet on 3G roaming as the Law Ministry is understood to have supported the Department of Telecom's (DoT) view that such spectrum sharing agreements among service providers are in violation of licensing norms and conditions.

According to an internal note, the Law Ministry has supported the DoT's legal advisory wing, Wireless Planning and Coordination (WPC), and regulator Trai's views which stated that 3G roaming agreements signed by various operators are in violation of telecom licences and norms.

"...In the facts, the unanimous views (by DoT's legal wing, WPC wing and regulator's Trai) appears to be possible views and subsequent administrative steps as suggested may be examined and explored," the note from the Law Ministry added.

Major service providers including Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Essar and Idea Cellular, have entered into 3G roaming pacts in their bid to offer high-end data services on a pan-India basis.

In a similar deal with Tata Teleservices, Aircel offers 3G services in six circles. However, the move did not go down well with the DoT which feels that these inter-operator alliances violate terms and conditions of the third generation (3G) spectrum agreements which were singed in June last year following high bid auctions.

The DoT took up the issue after regulator Trai had prima facie came to conclusion that such agreements are in violation of the terms and conditions of the telecom licences.

Earlier, DoT's legal adviser and WPC wing had also said the 3G inter-operator arrangements between licencees should not be treated as roaming arrangement. The WPC had also warned that the move by the service providers would result in revenue loss to the exchequer.

Defending the 3G roaming agreements between telecom operators, the GSM lobby Cellular Operators Association of India had said they did not violate the Unified Access Services Licence (UASL) under which service providers can offer all services.