Mobile operators who recently received notices from the Department of Telecommunications for failing to meet their roll-out obligations have started paying penalty to the government. Government sources said Etisalat DB (earlier known as Swan Telecom), Uninor and MTS have already deposited their penalty, while remaining operators are likely to follow suit.
“Etisalat DB Telecom has received a communication from Department of Telecommunications for imposition of liquidated damages towards roll-out obligation for the first year in respect of four telecom circles, aggregating Rs.9.90 crore…Etisalat DB has made payments for Rs.9.90 crore under protest,” the company said in a statement.
Similarly, Uninor, the joint venture between Norway's Telenor and Unitech, said it had deposited the penalty as claimed by the DoT “under protest”. “Various factors, including delay in clearances required for each site, new last minute pre-launch testing requirements and new equipment security clearance processes, came in the way of roll out and were beyond our control. We have requested the DoT to consider these in its assessment.
ADVERTISEMENT
“As a serious long-term operator with considerable presence in India, we intend to continue delivering the benefits of competition to customers in the country,” it said.
Significantly, following Comptroller and Auditor General of India audit report on 2G spectrum allocation, which pointed towards non-fulfilment of roll out obligations by new telecom players, TRAI last month had asked DoT to cancel 69 of the 127 licences given to six companies — Etisalat DB, Uninor, Videocon (earlier Datacom), Loop Telecom, S Tel (a joint venture between Siva Group and Bahrain Telecommunications Company) and Aircel — as they failed to meet licence conditions regarding commencement of their services. Subsequently, DoT had issued notices to these telecom operators asking them to pay the penalty.