The department of telecommunications (DoT) on Saturday ordered termination of the cellular licences of Koshika Telecom and Aircel Digilink for non-payment of licence fees.
Interconnection links between DoT and the cellular networks of Koshika and Aircel have been snapped, company sources confirmed. As a result, subscribers of the two companies are unable to make calls to the fixed-line phones of the DoT. Koshika offers the Ushafone brand and Essar Cellphone runs the Aircel service.
The circles (mostly analogous to states) that have been affected are Koshika's service in Uttar Pradesh (West), Bihar and Orissa and Aircel's services in Rajasthan and Haryana. The companies' licences in Uttar Pradesh (East), where they are competitors, have not been terminated in "consumer interest", sources said.
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"If both the companies' licences are terminated, the consumers in the state will not have access to any service at all. But, we will take appropriate action this week," DoT sources said. Koshika owes the government Rs 360 crore in outstanding licence fees, while Aircel owes about Rs 200 crore.
DoT has not taken action against another defaulter _ JT Mobiles, the cellular licensee in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh _ because the company has filed a case in the Delhi High Court against DoT, citing delays on its part in giving regulatory and frequency clearances. The hearing is scheduled for today.<