Telcos against Trai to clamp penalty

Telecom operators have strongly opposed any proposal to empower Trai to impose penalty on them for non-compliance of key standards on the quality of service (QOS) parametres.

"There is no justification for further empowering Trai to impose penalty on the service providers as penalties are already prescribed in the case of violation of directives of Trai", BSNL said in its response to Trai on its consultation process on review of QOS parametres.

MTNL said in competitive market, all operators strive hard to provide the QOS.

Private cellular major Bharti said the licensor (Department of Telecom) is already empowered with regard to QOS standards. So Trai should not be empowered to do so.

Unified access providers association AUSPI said Trai act 1997 as amended by amendment act 2000 provides necessary power to Trai in this regard. So further empowerement of Trai may not be called for, it said.

CDMA operator Tata Teleservices said penalty is not a solution and pro-active approach. "We can not compare with foreign countries. Our network is in evolving stage and will time to reach that level."

Operators were of the view that the emphasis on QOS should be more self-governing on the operators rather than by way of imposition of strict adherance and penalty.

In its consultation paper, Trai had asked the operators to give their response to whether Trai should impose penalty on the service providers for non-compliance of certain key standards laid down in the regulation.