DoT is department of penalty, says Vodafone official

Recently, the department has slapped a penalty of Rs 550 crore on Vodafone, Rs 350 cr demand notice to Airtel and Rs 300 cr on Idea Cellular for violating 3G service roaming norms

Taking a dig at DoT slapping fines on telcos for various reasons, a Vodafone official today termed it the "department of penalty" and said he scared of looking at business news as it may talk of a "new penalty".

"... Today DoT can be called DoP, not Department of Posts but department of penalty," Vodafone India Resident Director (Regulatory Affairs and Government Relations) T V Ramachandran said at an Assocham event here.

He said the telecom sector has been the flag bearer of reforms in the country and till about 3-4 years ago, everything was going right.

"Till about a few years ago, telecom sector was booming, everything was going right...Today when I read a paper, I am scared to read the headline on the business page, what new penalty can I be hammered with," Ramachandran said.

Recently, the Department of Telecom has slapped a penalty of Rs 550 crore on Vodafone, Rs 350 crore demand notice to Airtel and Rs 300 crore on Idea Cellular for violating 3G service roaming norms.

Besides, the department has imposed a fine of about Rs 104 crore on Vodafone for allegedly violating the licence conditions on routing of calls.