Telcos upset over Rs 50 cr fine for violation of licence norms

Private telecom operators today expressed concerns over the "onerous" penalty of Rs 50 crore being levied by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) for different violations of licence terms and conditions.

At a meeting convened by Minister of Communications and IT Kapil Sibal, the industry sought to know the rationale behind imposing Rs 50 crore penalty virtually for every type of violation and raised concerns over the onerous penalty being levied by DoT, the apex lobby of GSM operators COAI said in a statement.

"Many of the penalties are for minor technicalities and compliances with regulations and directives that are unclear and on which the industry itself has sought clarifications from the DoT.

"A maximum penalty of Rs 50 crore is levied without any reasoning or personal hearing. In fact levying Rs 50 crore penalty has become more of a norm than an exception," it said.

The industry, represented by CEO's and senior officials from COAI and AUSPI highlighted that the practice of the local TERM cells to audit, determine infringement and also levy a penalty is against the principles of natural justice where the local TERM Cell is positioned as the judge, jury and executioner.

The Telecom Equipment and Resource Monitoring Cell (TERM) of DoT does the auditing the determine the amount of penalty.

"The minister has promised to address the concern areas at the earliest," COAI Director General Rajan Mathews said.

In August, Sibal had asked the DoT to evolve guidelines to reduce the element of its discretion while deciding penalty for violation of licence conditions and make the process as scientific as possible.