DoT panel to examine Trai’s recommendations of a Rs 3,050cr penalty on Airtel, Vodafone, Idea

NEW DELHI: The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is set to refer to an internal technical panel the sector regulator’s recommendations of a Rs 3,050-crore penalty on Airtel, Vodafone and Idea for denying Reliance Jio adequate points of interconnect (PoIs). The matter could now take considerable time to be decided, officials and experts said.
The committee being constituted for the issue would consider all aspects, including the technical aspects of PoI and the rules governing it, and take into account clarifications from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), said DoT officials. The department is also likely to seek legal opinion from the solicitor general after the panel takes a view on the matter.

“The committee will have members which will be different from the Telecom Commission (TC),” said an official aware of the process. “It will take time, this will go to the solicitor general for his views.”

The final views of this committee will be communicated to the Telecom Commission, the highest decision-making body of the communications ministry, for a final decision. TC had initially sent the original recommendations from Trai on penalising carriers back to the regulator, asking it to clarify about a dozen points and to reconsider its suggestions. The regulator, however, stood by its views and said it had the right to recommend the penal action, citing provisions of the law.

In October last year, Trai had recommended penalties of Rs 1,050 crore each on Bharti Airtel and Vodafone India, and Rs 950 crore on Idea Cellular, on the grounds that the carriers violated licence norms by denying adequate PoIs — needed for completing calls from one carrier to another — to Jio, adding that their actions appeared to be aimed at stifling competition, were anti-consumer and against the public interest.

In February, Telecom Commission had asked the sector regulator to reconsider its views and sought clarifications.

Trai Rejected Call to Rethink Penalty
The Telecom Commission also asked if the regulator had the power to make such recommendations and whether the stipulated 90-day period was given to the three telcos for providing PoIs to the newcomer.

In its response to DoT a fortnight ago, Trai rejected the telecom department’s call to reconsider its recommendation of fines, while stressing that it has the powers to suggest penal action on erring telcos in larger public interest. The regulator said the companies had willingly flouted rules by denying PoIs to stifle competition, which should ideally have led to the cancellation of licences.

Trai also rejected DoT’s point that the recommendations may not stand legal scrutiny, saying that these were framed only after observing continued violation of quality of service norms and licence conditions and show-cause notices duly served on telcos to explain their side of the story.

Vodafone and Idea Cellular have already moved court against Trai’s penalty recommendations.