Issues have cropped up between the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) with regard to the rollout obligations issue.
Prior to this, DoT had imposed a penalty of Rs 276.5 million on Idea Cellular and the erstwhile Spice Communications for failing to comply with rollout obligations in various circles. Idea was penalised in the Karnataka and Punjab circles, while Spice was under the scanner for the Haryana, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra circles.
So, DoT asked the operators to shell out Rs 70 million each for delaying service rollout by over 52 weeks in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh respectively.
Meanwhile, an additional penalty of Rs 45.5 million was imposed on Idea for the Punjab circle, while Spice faced a penalty of a similar amount for a 39-week delay in Haryana and Maharashtra.
Thereafter, the operator approached TDSAT to resolve the issue and the tribunal dismissed DoT?s penalty order.
Now, as per news reports, DoT is planning to take the issue to the Supreme Court.
