Wednesday, January 23, 2013

3G violations by Telcos cost dearly


Eye-brows have been raised as to how eight major telecom companies are operating 3G services in 33 circles with impunity without permission or giving any charges.

This is despite the fact that some of these companies have got  no relief from the courts or even appellate tribunals. The  Department of Telecom (DoT), for the record, has an answer “Show Cause Notices to telecom companies who are in violation of  license conditions are under the consideration.”


But these have been under the consideration for a long time. The list of these powerful companies may give a clue as to why there is a delay in acting by the DoT. They are Vodafone Easar South, Vodafone Eassar Spacetel Ltd.,  Idea Cellular Aditya Birla Telecom Limited, Aircel Limited & Bharti Airtel Limited,  Dishnet Wirless Ltd and Spice Communications Ltd. 

These companies operate 3G services in 33 circles across India. Though these companies were given licences in their respective circles during the bidding of the 3G services. But they started giving 3G roaming service by entering into agreements without the permission of the DoT. The government maintains that this is contrary to the licence agreements. Companies maintain that roaming is part of the terms and conditions of the bids. The department denied it. 

But the baffling part is that the DoT is not acting against these companies either despite their failure to getting any relief from the Telecom Disputes Settlement & Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT). The TDSAT gave a split verdict which simply means that the companies are liable to pay the inter-connectivity charges which run into hundreds of crores of rupees.

  
The Telecom Minister also told the Parliament during the Winter session that “Violations related to provisioning of 3G services without specific authorization came to the notice of Government. On examination, it came to notice that such licensee(s) are providing 3G services to their customers by entering into a commercial agreement called Intra Service Area Roaming Agreement.”


When the DoT issued to one company (Bharti Airtel Limited) a show cause as to why financial penalty is not imposed for violation of the license conditions, it rushed to Delhi high court. However, the court directed the company to reply to the notice. The DoT had asked as to why  Licenses of 7 Licensed Service Area (LSAs) be not terminated where the company is proving 3G services without any specific authorization. The company was asked to stop provisioning of 3G services in these 7 LSAs within 3 days from the date of issue of notice.

Officials say that no motives should be attributed for the delay in issuing notices to the remaining companies. 

The companies are operating in the following circles:  

Vodafone Easar South Ltd.,(Andhra Pradesh),   Idea Cellular Limited, Vodafone Essar Speacetel Ltd., Assam,  Aditya Birla Telecom Limited, Vodafone Eassar Spacetel Ltd.,(Bihar), idea Cellular Limited (Delhi), Aircel Limited & Bharti Airtel Limited (Gujarat), Bharti Airtel Limited (Haryana), Vodafone Essar Spacetel Ltd (Himachal Pradesh),  Vodafone Essar Spacetel Ltd (Jammu & Kashmir), Spice Communications Ltd, Vodafone Essar Spacetel Ltd., (Karnataka), Bharti Airtel Ltd, Vodafone Essar Spacetel Ltd.,(Kerala), Bharti Airtel Ltd., & Idea Cellular Ltd., (Kolkata), Bharti Airtel Ltd., Dishnet Wirless Ltd,& Vodafone Essar Spacetel Ltd., (Madhya Pradesh), Aircel Ltd., Bharti Airtel Ltd, & Idea Cellular Ltd ( Maharashtra), Idea Cellular Ltd, (Mumbai), Idea Cellular Ltd & Vodafone Essar Spacetel Ltd., (North East), Aircel Ltd., Idea Cellular Ltd., & Vodafone Essar Spacetel Ltd., (Rajasthan), Idea Cellula Ltd., (Tamil Nadu inculding Chennai), Bharti Airtel Ltd., (Uttar Pradesh East), Dishnet Wirless Ltd., &Vodafone Essar Spacetel Ltd., (Uttar Pradesh West), Idea Cellular Limited (West Bengal).