DoT may conduct special audit of telcos for 2008 onwards

The Department of Telecom (DoT) may conduct special audit of telecom firms from 2008 onwards, although a final call on the matter is yet to be taken.

The licence conditions allows the department to conduct special audit of telecom operators whenever required.

"DoT is evaluating the option of auditing the accounts of telecom firms after 2008. It is a routine thing as per the licence conditions," a source in DoT said.

The source added that a final call on the matter is not yet taken and there is no question on fixing the timelines.

The department had earlier conducted the audit for assessment years 2006 to 2008.

During that time, it had received complaints regarding some telecom companies under reporting their revenues.

This time, DoT has not received any complaint regarding any company. However, exact reason behind the move could not be ascertained.

Show cause notices to five private operators including Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Idea Cellular, Reliance Communications and Tata Teleservices, amounting to about Rs 1,637 crore were issued for under reporting revenues a few years back.

The operators though challenged it in court. The matter currently is pending in court.