The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) are at loggerheads over the cancellation of licences of new operators that failed to meet their rollout obligations. The TRAI has now written to the DoT seeking reasons for considering 15 cases for cancellation against 69 recommended by the telecom sector regulator.
“We have received the letter [from DoT], we have examined it and have written back to them to give us the case-wise details…we have requested them [DoT] to provide us their details of each licence, and also if the legal opinion [was taken], if any. We are awaiting the reply… As soon as we receive information, we will respond,” TRAI Chairman J.S. Sarma told journalists here.
The DoT and the TRAI are not agreeing on the cut-off date for the allocation of spectrum, as the former says a licence can be cancelled for not meeting the roll out obligations only after a lapse of 104 weeks from that date of allocation of spectrum and not the date of grant of licence. According to licence terms, an operator is required to cover 10 per cent of a circle covered in the first year.
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So far, the DoT has sent 10 notices on account of delay in network rollout, while the remaining five are in the process, besides collecting over Rs.300 crore as liquidated damages from all the new operators. In its report last year, the TRAI had ordered cancellation of licences issued in 2007-08 by the former Telecom Minister, A. Raja, accused of selling licences and spectrum, and causing the exchequer huge losses.