The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is planning to penalise Reliance Communications (RCOM) and Reliance Telecom Limited (RTL) for unilaterally switching off mobile coverage in 12 states for more than two months under the Universal Service Obligation Fund?s (USOF) shared mobile infrastructure policy.
DoT considers this a violation of licence conditions and has sought legal opinion before imposing a Rs 500 million penalty on the entities.
The shared mobile infrastructure policy was launched four years ago to provide subsidy to operators for establishing and managing over 7,900 telecom towers across 500 districts in rural and remote areas.
It is believed that RCOM had switched off operations in 1,191 telecom towers across nine states, while RTL had switched off 228 towers across Bihar-Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and
So, tower operations under the USOF’s shared mobile infrastructure scheme came to a standstill between November 16, 2010, and January 20, 2011, in these areas. Thus, DoT opines that RCOM and RTL had violated clauses in their licence-related agreement of ensuring quality and continuity of services.
Meanwhile, DoT is also awaiting the recommendations of a panel, headed by R. Chandrasekhar, secretary, DoT, which is expected to make the penal provisions of the USOF’s shared mobile infrastructure scheme stricter.
