On Wednesday, The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) said the incumbent operators were intentionally denying and delaying to provide adequate points of interconnection to the new entrant, Reliance Jio.
It was within its power to impose a penalty for the violation of the license norms, TRAI said.
TRAI replied to a dozen of queries raised by The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) saying, “Millions of consumers were suffering due to the blatant and willful violation of the license terms and TRAI’s regulations by the top three telcos.”
It is apparent that Airtel is in “Noncompliance of the terms and conditions of the license and denial of interconnection to Reliance Jio appears to be an ulterior motive to stifle competition and is anti-consumer,” TRAI explained.
TRAI recommended a fine of Rs. 1,050 crore each for Vodafone and Airtel, and of Rs. 950 crore for Idea.
“We are continuously augmenting the points of interconnection provided to Reliance Jio and the pace of augmentation has been the fastest ever done by us,” an Airtel spokesperson said.
TRAI issued the show cause notice to the companies, seeking a reason for call failures exceeding the admissible limit. They even offered them 10 days to explain why action should not be taken against them for the violation of the service quality norms.
“Reliance Jio had informed their requirement well before the commercial launch and the telecom service providers are required to comply with the existing regulations related to the quality of service,” Trai said.
TRAI Act states, ‘Non-compliance of terms and conditions of the license under the TRAI Act, 1997 warrants recommendations for the revocation of the license. Clearly, penalty to a TSP amounts much less in severity than revocation of its license. It is well established that a penal action which is lower than the stipulated action is intra-vires.’
