Vodafone Essar has approached the Telecom Disputes Settlement & Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) challenging the Rs 500 million penalty imposed on it by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) for allegedly violating licence conditions by issuing bulk SIM cards to Matrix Cellular Services.
TDSAT has reserved its order over Vodafone Essar’s request. During the proceedings, Vodafone Essar?s counsel contended that DoT has imposed a fine on the company for a seven-year old issue and it had already terminated its agreement with Matrix in 2007.
In 2003, Vodafone Essar (then Hutch) had inked an agreement with Matrix Cellular and had issued 10,000 SIM cards for its own use.
Vodafone Essar had also issued 27,000 SIM cards to Matrix to be sold by the telecom solution provider.
The operator?s counsel said that the penalty should be imposed on Matrix as it had issued SIM cards without proper verification.
Further, Vodafone Essar contended that a penalty of Rs 500 million was excessive. As per licence conditions, DoT can impose a maximum penalty of Rs 10,000 for an unverified customer’s form and by that rule that penalty should be not be more than Rs 100 million.
However, DoT?s counsel countered this by saying that the penalty amount was irrelevant and it was an issue of violation of national security.
Vodafone Essar further contended that DoT issued a show cause notice to it in December 2008, while it had disconnected the connections in 2007 to ensure that there was no misuse.
