Telecom service upgrade tied up in red tape: Tata

Tata Group Chairman Ratan N Tata today lashed out at the government, saying that regulatory procedures were impeding growth of the telecom industry in India.

"The government has imposed a lot of regulations, and is not permitting major technological upgrade," Tata told shareholders at the annual general meeting of Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) Ltd (TTML) here.

Tata said the government's decision to change TTML's code numbers had resulted in the loss of a huge number of subscribers, as most of them were not ready to change their old numbers.

"Telecom regulator Trai imposed a Rs 50 crore penalty on us for the Push-To-Talk call rate service. We had implemented this service after providing detailed information to Trai...despite this we were charged a fine," he said.

The matter is at present with the telecom tribunal, and the Tatas have received a stay on the Trai order. The Tata group operates three telecom companies "" TTML, TTSL, and Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (VSNL) "" with TTSL being an unlisted company.

Another issue Tata raised was of the allotment of "55" and "56" as prefix numbers for its subscribers, which were later changed to "66", citing a change in technology.

State-owned BSNL imposing an Access Deficit Levy on its "Walkie", and the recent press note on foreign direct investment (FDI) that mandated all companies complying with certain changes, irrespective of whether they were going in for an FDI, had also hampered the operations of Tata telecom companies.