DoT to impose Rs 132 cr penalty on telcos

New Delhi, Dec 31: The Department of Telecom has decided to impose a total penalty of Rs 132 crore on some major telecom operators for not rolling out services on time after the award of licence and spectrum.

The penalty, which will be in the form of liquidated damages (LD), for delays since 2005 for which show-cause notices had been issued earlier.

"As per the calculation, the revised LD amount is Rs 132 crore, Bharti Airtel (Rs 28.20 crore), Reliance Communications (Rs 19.85 crore), Tata Teleservices (Rs 36.5 crore), Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) (Rs 3.7 crore)," said an internal DoT note.

It further said, "The LD on Aircel is Rs 28.995 crore, while Vodafone Essar, MTNL, BSNL have not been slapped any LD."

"Idea Cellular has to pay Rs 1 crore, HFCL Infotel and Sistema Shyam have to pay Rs 7 crore each," it added.

A DoT official said the department would soon send individual notices to the telcos.

As per the latest calculations the penalty has been lowered to Rs 132 crore from the earlier figure of Rs 450 crore.

OneIndia News