Court summons Bharti, Idea, Loop on MNP issue

The country's three telecom majors Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular and Loop Mobiles and their top officials were summoned today by a Delhi court for allegedly violating TRAI regulations on mobile number portability.

The top corporate executives who were issued summonses with a direction to appear before Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Vinod Yadav on May 25 are Bharti Airtel's CEO Sanjay Kapoor, its Director (Legal and Regulatory Affairs) Jyoti Pawar and Vice-President (Head and Regulatory Affairs, Mobile Services) Ashwani Rana.

The executives summoned from the Idea Cellular Ltd included its Managing Director Himanshu Kapania and its Chief Corporate Affairs Officers Rajat K Mukarji.

The Loop Mobiles (India) Ltd officials, who have been summoned by the court are its Managing Director Sandip Basu and Chief Regulatory Officer Harish Kapoor.

The top corporate honchos of the telecom sector were summoned by the court on a complaint by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) for alleged violation of its regulations on mobile number portability.

"In my considered opinion, there is enough material on record to proceed against the accused persons for violation of the TRAI regulation. Let accused persons be summoned," CMM Yadav said.

The TRAI has filed separate complaints against each telecom firm and their top officials for allegedly violating its norms by rejecting number portability requests of their subscribers in various circles like Mumbai, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Maharashtra and others.

TRAI counsel Saket Singh argued that the three companies had violated TRAI Telecommunications Mobile Number Portability Regulations, 2009, while rejecting porting requests from their subscribers.

Singh said the companies also failed to provide complete information sought by TRAI in respect of the porting requests rejected by them.