Digicel’s controversial new long distance service offered through Internet provider Transact has been halted.Judge Ian Kawaley yesterday ordered Digicel to stop offering the new long distance service to wireless subscribers until legal action over it is resolved.The order came after Government lawyers finally weighed in on what has become a messy legal dispute involving a number of the Island’s telecoms providers.Digicel’s lawyer Victor Lyon QC accused Government of changing its mind, declaring in Supreme Court yesterday: “You can’t license something then un-license it!”On having to halt the service, Mr Lyon said: “This will cause us an enormous amount of financial harm and who is going to pay for that?”He argued Digicel was being subjected to “politically motivated interference”.During the hearing, Mr Kawaley did not rule that Digicel or Transact were in any way in breach of their licences - setting the case down for a full hearing on that issue next month.Consultant Crown counsel Maurice Cottle told Supreme Court yesterday the Ministry of Environment, Planning and Infrastructure (Telecoms) firmly opposed the Digicel/Transact service and accused Digicel of jumping the gun on imminent Telecoms regulatory reform.“All parties have known reform is imminent,” Mr Cottle said. “Digicel is the only party that has broken ranks in seeking to do what it is doing ahead of reform ... to get an advantage.”Further outlining the Government’s case, he suggested it was the Ministry’s view that Digicel had only been given a “conditional” go-ahead to offer the service and had still to satisfy certain conditions including separate billing and accounts. He said Digicel may have a different interpretation of what Government had told them.Mr Cottle further said the Ministry of Finance had also been involved in the process, having dealt with the Digicel acquisition of Transact and complex issues surrounding the nature of that deal and the specifics of Transact’s ownership and licence.He said it may now be that Transact is conducting business without a licence because its licence became void after conditions of it were contravened. However, Mr Lyon argued Government had given it the okay to offer the long distance service, and Digicel had fully disclosed to the Ministry its plans and time frame to launch the service, yet, never once did the Ministry tell Digicel it could not offer the long distance service which is offered through sister company Transact but Digicel branded.He demanded Government provide grounds and a factual basis for now opposing the long distance service.“We met with the Attorney General before the launch,” Mr Lyon said. “Government knew all about it ... and it’s only now they have piped up objections to it. It is crazy.”Mr Kawaley set the case down for a full hearing next month. Before the hearing was adjourned, CellOne lawyer Shade Subair argued Digicel should be ordered to stop offering the long distance service and remove all advertisement of it from the public domain. If not, she said the public will be left with the impression that Digicel is offering something more comprehensive than CellOne. Mr Kawaley said Digicel must simply no longer offer the service while the court case was pending and make that known. Digicel agreed.Yesterday’s hearing began with TBI’s application to join the legal action involving CellOne. Digicel was seeking an interconnection order so CellOne subscribers could also sign up for the new overseas calling plans.Digicel opposed the actions being joined, but Mr Kawaley in the end agreed to join them and ruled that CellOne no longer has to provide interconnection to Digicel now that Government has come out opposing the long distance service.On the eve of yesterday’s hearing the Minister over Telecoms Walter Roban held a news conference to announce Government will later next month finally unveil a new regulatory regime that will fundamentally change the Island’s telecommunications sector.He said the overhaul will see the introduction of one universal licence, and do away with the current system of separate classes of licences.Digicel set off a legal firestorm this month after announcing the launch of long distance service for wireless subscribers.TBI initially took legal action against Digicel to restrain it from offering the new long distance service, but the hearing was cut short after Digicel said TBI was suing the wrong party, because it was Transact that was in effect offering the service.Last night, Wayne Caines, CEO of Digicel Bermuda said he “empathised fully” with Mr Kawaley’s decsion and that the company “strongly believes that once the facts of our case are fully presented before the Court that it will be evident that Digicel and Transact are operating within the law and the boundaries of our respective licenses”.Frank Amaral, COO of CellOne, issued the following statement today: “As a leader in Bermuda's wireless sector we appreciate the competitive pressures to come to market with enhanced offerings but this needs to be done within the confines of the rules, after all we are a regulated industry."