DoT likely to withdraw the penalty imposed on operators for discontinuing services

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is reconsidering a proposal to impose a penalty on 2G operators which discontinued telecom services without informing subscribers in advance.

According to DoT, following the Supreme Court?s order leading to the cancellation of 122 2G licences in February 2012, operators such as Loop Telecom and STel had shut down their networks without giving any prior notice to subscribers. This amounted to violation of the apex court?s order. For the alleged violation, DoT imposed a penalty of Rs 2.5 billion and Rs 7 billion on STel and Loop Telecom.

However, both the operators contested the penalties on grounds that once the Supreme Court cancelled their licences then legally their operations ceased to exist. In addition, both the operators claimed that they did inform their users in advance about the shutting down of their networks.

Subsequently, DoT sought legal opinion on the matter which suggested that 2G operators? could not be held responsible for shutting down their networks once their licences were cancelled by the Supreme Court.