The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) may not cancel 62 of the 74 licences of operators who allegedly did not fulfill roll out obligations, as suggested by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).
DoT?s licensing wing has stated that TRAI?s recommendations are not in line with the roll out obligations as stipulated under existing laws.
Prior to this, DoT had sent show cause notices for terminating 12 licences, while TRAI had recommended cancelling 62 more licences. Of this, 31 licences were supposed to have been cancelled outright for completely missing the roll out obligations while the other 31 licences were supposed to have been cancelled after obtaining a legal view, according to TRAI.
The licences of Etisalat DB, Loop Telecom, Sistema Shyam TeleServices Limited, Uninor and Videocon are currently under scrutiny.
TRAI and DoT’s views differ with regard to the interpretation of the term, ?roll out obligations?. DoT’s licensing wing has opined that according to the licence conditions, operators are only required to commission their network in specific geographies to meet the roll out obligation.
However, TRAI feels that setting up the network is not enough and operators are required to offer services to subscribers as well.
The Telecom Commission will take a final decision on this issue, after DoT obtains the opinion of the Ministry of Law and Justice.
