In continuation of the rollout obligations issue, the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) has dismissed the Rs 383.5 million penalty imposed by the Department of Telecommunications on Sistema Shyam Teleservices Limited (SSTL) in this context.
Prior to this, in December 2011, DoT had imposed a penalty of Rs 383.5 million on the operator for failing to meet rollout conditions in its first year of operation in nine circles.
These circles included Orissa, Uttar Pradesh (East), Uttar Pradesh (West), Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, North East, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh.
As per licence conditions, an operator has to comply with its roll-out obligations in two phases. In the first phase, 10 per cent of the circles have to be covered within a year from the date of allocation of spectrum and 50 per cent within a period of three years. If these conditions are not met, a penalty is imposed.
Thereafter, DoT sent a notice to all operators under the scanner in this issue asking them to pay Rs 690 million as penalty.
The operator then took up the issue with TDSAT in January this year.
