The Telecom Commission has dismissed the recommendations of an inter-ministerial panel that was asked to determine the penalty for breach of licence conditions by operators.
An internal note circulated in the Commission said, “The recommendations of the inter-ministerial committee are unacceptable as they amount to lowering the upper limit of the penalty that is part of the licence agreement.?
Instead, the Commission has asked the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to frame a set of internal guidelines on determining the size of the penalty on a case-to-case basis, depending on the gravity of the violation.
It has also called for the constitution of a smaller panel, comprising members of DoT?s licencing, finance and wireless access wings to propose a suitable penalty for each individual licence condition breach, and place the same before the telecom secretary and communications minister for final approval.
The Commission believes the quantum of penalty should be determined only after factoring in the level of a licencee’s culpability, the potential revenue loss to the government, the net wrongful gains made by the erring mobile phone company and the level of deterrence merited.
It also calls for stringent action against all operators who compromise on the national security parameters in the licence agreement.
