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SC asks GSM and CDMA
operators, BSNL to submit records to TRAI
The Supreme
Court on Monday directed parties to a carriage charge dispute, wherein telecom
PSU BSNL is claiming Rs 470 crore from players including Vodafone, Airtel and
Tata Telecom, to submit details for verification by regulator TRAI. The apex
court directed members of GSM operators' body Cellular Operators Association of
India (COAI) and CDMA operators' body Association of Unified Telecom Service
Providers of India (AUSPI) to submit records for the November 12, 2005, to
March 31, 2009, period within two weeks. "On receipt of CDR, TRAI would determine the amount payable at the interim
stage of each of the operators towards carriage charges," said a bench
comprising Chief Justice S H Kapadia and Justice Swatanter Kumar. Moreover, the
court also directed the telecom operators to submit an undertaking to pay the
due amount, along with the interest fixed by the court. The bench also directed
the operators to cooperate with TRAI, while it calculated the amount to be paid
to BSNL. The apex court's direction came after it found a sharp difference between the
claim of around Rs 470 crore raised by BSNL and the chart submitted by COAI and
AUSPI regarding their liability to pay carriage charges to the PSU. According
to the chart submitted by COAI, Vodafone has to pay Rs 20 crore, Idea Rs 25
crore, Airtel Rs 78 crore and Aircel Rs 5 crore. However, according to the PSU,
Airtel, Tata Tele and Reliance alone owe Rs 170 crore to BSNL. Earlier, on August 16, the apex court had directed private operators like
Vodafone, Idea Cellular and Aircel to file affidavits stating their dues to
BSNL along with a chart of their liabilities between November, 2005, and March,
2009. BSNL levies carriage charges for forwarding calls originating from
private telco networks to its own network and vice versa. The court was hearing
two petitions filed by COAI and AUSPI challenging the order of the Telecom
Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT), which had on May 21, 2010,
set aside TRAI's direction to BSNL to charge a uniform carriage charge of 20
paise for intra-circle calls. According to the operators, TDSAT has also set
aside two letters written by TRAI on May 17, 2006, to the PSU and "wrongly
allowed BSNL to levy distance-based carriage charges on the appellant instead
of a uniform carriage charge of 20 paise per minute in case of
intra-circle." The lobby groups have further submitted that TRAI, in its
regulation, had directed BSNL to take 20 paise as carriage charges for all
calls for and from private cellular mobile networks. "However, in violation of the said IUC Regulation, BSNL was levying a
distance-based carriage charge of 65 paise, 90 paise and Rs 1.10 for distance
slabs of 50 to 200 km, 200 to 500 km and above 500 km respectively," the
operators said.
Six new Telcos to be
fined for missing rollout deadline
The telecom department is finalising the quantum of
penalty for delayed rollout of services by new players in the telecom market,
an official with direct knowledge of the matter said. The latest entrants
include Videocon, Sistema, Uninor, Loop, S Tel and Etisalat DB. Aircel Cellular
that got licences for some circles before 2008 may also be penalised for delays.
India’s telecom regulations mandate that any company with a licence must meet
deadlines for commercial launch of services. These six mobile phone companies,
which bagged licenses in January 2008, have missed several deadlines for
launching commercial services, the Department of Telecom (DoT) official said.
DoT has powers to cancel licences of mobile phone companies in circles where
they have not launched services even a year after getting the licence. At the
same time, as reported by ET on Monday, DoT is examining proposals that will
allow many of these new mobile operators, to sell out or exit, paving the way
for a possible consolidation in the 14-player market. Some of the new entrants
refused to comment on the development. Etisalat DB promoter Shahid Usamn Balwa
said the ‘company had fulfilled all its rollout obligations and hence the
penalty would not apply to them’. An executive with another new entrant
explained that DoT had the powers to impose financial penalties for delayed
launches. An executive close to Uninor said the company had 22,000 telecom towers across
the country as it had executed commercial agreements with infrastructure
companies. “Technically, Uninor has completed rollouts in all 22 circles — the
deals with tower companies shows its intent,” he said. DoT is consulting the
finance ministry to impose penalties on similar lines on older players who got
licenses before 2008 and had delayed launching services. This is because, there
have been recent changes in the calculation method. The Central Vigilance
Commission is probing the reasons why all new entrants barring Sistema Shyam
have delayed rollouts. The prime office has asked the department of telecom for
an explanation. Even after almost three years, Etisalat DB has not yet started
full-fledged commercial services, while Loop Mobile offers services only in
Mumbai. Etisalat and Loop say they have ‘technical launches’ in several
circles. These are not full-fledged commercial services and analysts say they
are token launches to meet rollout obligations. Videocon has launched mobile
services in only five of the 22 circles. S Tel offers mobile services in all
its six circles, but overshot the deadline. Uninor, owned by Norway’s Telenor,
has missed deadlines in half its circles. Existing laws mandate mobile
companies to provide commercial services in at least 10% of the district
headquarters by the end of the first year. DoT can fine mobile phone companies
Rs 5 lakh a week per circle for the first 13 weeks of delay. The fine then
increases to Rs 10 lakh each for the next 13 weeks followed by Rs 20 lakh for
delays up to 26 weeks. The maximum amount of time an operator can sit on the licence, which comes
bundled with airwaves, the radio frequencies, on which all mobile operators travel,
is 12 months. “The licenses of these operators must be taken back and penalties
must also be imposed for squatting on spectrum, as these airwaves are a
national resource. If the same airwaves have been allotted to existing
operators, the government would have earned revenues on them — the new entrants
must be made to compensate this revenue loss,” said BK Syngal, senior principal
at Dua Consulting.
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