An inter-ministerial panel has sought clarifications from Trai over the regulator's decision to recommend £305 million penalty on Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular for allegedly denying interconnect points to Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Jio.
Clarifications include a query on whether Trai has the power to recommend financial penalty on mobile operators. The telecom commission has also raised questions on various parameters that the regulator used to arrive at its findings on the interconnect matter, official sources said.“They have been asked to submit their views over the next fortnight,” a source said.
Sources said the government wants to be “sure of legalities” before arriving at any decision on Trai's recommendation on penalty. “We need to make sure that any final decision is legally tenable, and is consistent with various provisions listed in the act governing Trai,” the source said.
Other queries include whether a 90-day period was given to Airtel, Vodafone and Idea for providing points of interconnect to Jio. “The commission has asked about the methodology that Trai adopted to calculate a penalty of £5 million per telecom circle for violations. Clarity has also been sought on the period during which the congestion levels and quality of services on Jio's network were measured,” the source said.
The commission, which needs to take a final view on the matter, raised the queries based on findings of an internal committee of the telecom ministry that felt that Trai needs to clarify its position on some of the issues. Trai had in October recommended penalty on top telcos (£105 million on Airtel and Vodafone each and £95 million on Idea Cellular) after an inquiry, which was initiated following a complaint from Jio over massive call failures on its network.
Jio had said that failures running into millions of calls were due to less-than-adequate interconnect points that the competing mobile operators were providing, and blamed them for its poor services.
Trai took a serious view on the matter and said top telcos were guilty of anti-consumer behaviour in violation of licence terms and conditions. It stopped short of cancelling their licences, saying it would cause inconvenience to customers. Its recommendations have, however, been challenged by Vodafone and Idea in Delhi High Court. Vodafone had termed the penalty as “arbitrary” in its petition before the court.
