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The Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT), on Wednesday, has put a stay on the Rs 650-crore penalty on Bharti Airtel for alleged violation of norms of the Subscriber Local Dialing (SLD) between 2002 and 2005. TDSAT will again hear the matter on August 21.
Early this month, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has sent the Rs 650-crore penalty notice to the country’s largest telecom operator by subscriber base, following which Bharti Airtel had moved TDSAT.
After the penalty notice, Bhart Airtel had, in a statement, said that the demand for penalty of Rs 650 crore “is devoid of any merit and has no justification both on facts and in law”.
According to Bharti, the company had in 2002 launched the SLD service and had fully satisfied the sector regulator on this service and its various aspects.
“The regulator had found this service to be customer friendly and in compliance of the licence conditions. The total revenue this SLD service generated for Bharti Airtel was a few lacs of rupees, a fact which is fully known to the DoT. Yet strangely, without as much as giving us a proper hearing, the DoT has after eight years has issued a demand notice of Rs 650 crore in complete disregard of the natural process of justice,” the company had said in the statement.
A Committee of the DoT had, in its recommendations, noted that Bharti Airtel has violated the national long-distance (NLD)/international long distance (ILD) licence conditions in 13 circles between 2000 and 2005.
According to the recommendations of the DoT Committee, Bharti Airtel had not stopped the service at least up to June 2005 even after specific directions from the DoT which was issued on June 20, 2003.
In May 2005, the Telecom regulatory Authority of India (Trai) had also said that Bharti Airtel was liable to termination of its licences. But, the regulator did not recommended termination of Bharti’s licences as it would affect a large number of subscribers.
