Telecom minister dashes Trai's penal power hopes

The regulator had sought powers to levy a penalty of up to Rs 10 crore and a jail term of up to two years for executives of telcos that failed to meet its regulation

Barely three days after stating that government was open to empowering the telecom regulator, Communications and Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad seems to have changed his mind.

In response to a letter from Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar, the minister said the regulator had “wide ranging powers” and “the need to amend the Trai Act is not felt at this juncture.”

Experts are seeing this as a clear indication that the government is not inclined to grant more powers to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, which had sought a mandate to penalise telecom companies and imprison executives, after its proposed penalty on call drops was struck down by the Supreme Court.

Prasad, in a letter dated June 3, wrote: “I have had the matter looked into. In this connection, it is intimated that Trai is empowered by the Trai Act to lay down the standards of quality of service to be provided by service providers and ensure the quality of service by conducting periodical surveys of such services so as to protect the interest of consumers. Since the Trai has wide ranging powers, the need to change the Trai Act is not felt at this juncture.”

The regulator had sought powers to levy a penalty of up to Rs 10 crore and a jail term of up to two years for top executives of telcos if they fail to meet its regulations.

The service quality is unlikely to improve as the government and the regulator are not seeing eye-to-eye. Experts view this as a turf battle between the regulator and the ministry, which is seemingly in no mood to grant more powers to the regulator. When contacted, Trai Chairman R S Sharma declined comment on the matter.

Rajeev Chandrasekhar said: “I disagree with the Minister as I have maintained the regulator does not have enough powers or the capabilities to intervene decisively in matters of consumer interest. The Trai Act was amended 16 years ago and the challenges facing the sector have changed and the Act needs to be amended to make it more contemporary.”

The basic debate is whether the power should be concentrated with the ministry or the regulator. In late 2008, a proposal was sent to the government to amend the Trai Act but nothing happened. In July 2012, a revised legislation was sent to the government, but the matter got stuck because there was no consensus on whether the regulator should be given financial independence and licensing powers. In 2014, the government redrafted Trai Bill with convergence in mind. However, that also met the same fate.
MINISTER’S FLIP-FLOPS

• May 11: Supreme Court strikes down Trai’s call drop penalty
   
• May 31: Union minister says govt is open to empowering Trai
   
• June 03: Trai seeks more powers to levy penalties and imprison telecom executives
   
• June 09: The minister says no need to amend Trai Act as the regulator has wide-ranging powers