The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has prepared notices to be issued to Reliance Communications (RCOM) and Tata Teleservices (TTSL) for missing out on their roll-out obligations. The draft notices for imposition of liquidated damages (LD) for 10 licences each of RCOM and TTSL are currently awaiting the approval of the competent authority.
The two companies received dual technology licence in 2007-08 and offer both CDMA and GSM based mobile services.
Till now, eight show cause notices for termination of licences due to violation of roll-out obligations have been issued and seven more cases are in the process of approval. Most of the new players who received 2G licences in 2008 have not met roll-out obligations. Some of them are under the scanner of various investigative agencies, including CBI and Parliamentary panels.
In all, 17 notices have been issued for the delays. The operators have been given 60 days to respond as to why their licences should not be terminated for failure to roll-out networks as per the licence conditions.
As per the existing norms, the licensees were required to offer services in 90 per cent of their service areas in metros and 10 per cent in district headquarters within 12 months from the date of award of licence.
