Cops must hold on to Xtrinet equipment, Court of Appeal rules

EQUIPMENT BELONGING to telecommunications provider Xtrinet will remain in police custody as the Court of Appeal has questioned whether the company has a bona fide licence to use specified areas of spectrum to operate its business.

The appeal court ordered that an earlier judgment ordering the return of the equipment be stayed.

The dispute surrounds the seizure of equipment at the company’s Eastwood Avenue premises.

Xtrinet has claimed the right to use the frequency of the electromagnetic spectrum that Symbiote, which trades as Caricel, previously used.

But the Spectrum Management Authority disputed Xtrinet’s right so to do.

Xtrinet maintains that the technology minister did not revoke Symbiote’s licence to use the spectrum.

In an April 3 judgment on the appeal brought by the Office of the Attorney General (AG) and Superintendent of Police Anthony McLaughlin, Justice Patrick Brooks said that although the AG’s office failed to show that judge Andrea Pettigrew-Collins erred in her decision to have the equipment returned to the company, the charges subsequently laid against the company for allegedly illegally using the spectrum have weighed heavily in his decision to stay the order.

Brooks pointed out in his judgment that the documentation submitted to him strongly indicates that Xtrinet does not possess a licence to use the spectrum.

“In the absence of a spectrum licence, that usage would be in breach of Section 63A(1)(b) of the Telecommunications Act. This court should not allow such a breach,” Brooks argued.

On February 21, the police team, including McLaughlin, raided Xtrinet’s premises, armed with a warrant to seize equipment, which was said to be connected to breaches of Section 70 of the act.

Xtrinent has argued that the raid was illegal and wanted an injunction preventing the authorities from re-entering its premises or interfering with its operation and from communicating to the press about Xtrinet’s operations.

On March 19, the police arrested and charged Livingston Hines and others with conspiracy, between themselves and with others, to use the spectrum within the frequency range 746-756MHz and 777-787MHz without a licence.