DoT may impose penalty on Bharti

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) may impose a penalty of up to '50 crore on telecom service provider Bharti Airtel for alleged violation of licence terms and conditions.

In an internal note, the department said the company has issued 1,847 bulk mobile connections to Falcon Business Resource Pvt Ltd and 741 to Galaxy Rent. The company entered into agreements with these companies for renting of SIMs issued to them for individual customers — third-party transfer of SIM/connection, which is not allowed, DoT said.

“The licensor may impose a financial penalty of not over '50 crore for violation of terms and conditions of the licence agreement,” the note added. When contacted, a Bharti Airtel spokesperson said the company had not received any formal communication from DoT in this regard.

“This practice of providing mobile connections to an individual without maintaining his identity particulars has security implications and operational activities of security agencies are hampered due to non-availability of identity of a particular suspected target,” Minister of State for Telecom and IT Sachin Pilot said in a reply in the Rajya Sabha.