Ministry forms committee to look into TRAI's penalty suggestion

TRAI proposed enalty of Rs 3,050 crore on Airtel, Vodafone, Idea as they failed to provide sufficient PoI to Reliance Jio

Union Telecom Minister Manoj Sinha on Friday said the ministry has formed a committee to look into the telecom regulator's recommendation on the proposed Rs 3,050 crore penalty on telcos.

Last month, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) proposed a penalty of about Rs 3,050 crore on three telcos - Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular - as they failed to provide sufficient inter-connect points (PoI) to Reliance Jio resulting call drops.

The regulator sent a letter to the Department of Telecommunications recommending a penalty of Rs 50 crore per circle for 21 service areas, except for Jammu & Kashmir, for Airtel and Vodafone. For Idea Cellular, the regulator suggested penalty for 19 circles.

"A committee is formed to look at the proposal sent by TRAI. The committee will give its considerations," Sinha said at the 2nd Meeting of BRICS Ministers of Communications here.

The telecom regulator's recommendation came after Reliance Jio complained that more than 75 per cent of the calls on its network were dropping since incumbents were not giving sufficient PoIs that would help complete calls. Later, the regulator said the incumbent operators went "against public interest."

Meanwhile, Sinha said the working group under the guidance of BRICS communications ministers has prepared a roadmap for digital partnership among the members and decided on the lead countries for respective areas.

The members have also taken important action plans for Information and Communication Technology development such as terms for building BRICS institute forfuture network, collaborating complementary technical skills, exploring opportunity to build submarine cable network, encourage mobility of high-skilled professionals. He urged the members to create joint research platforms for promoting e-governance systems.