TRAI may get 'fine' power
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New Delhi: The government is contemplating transferring the powers to impose penalty from the telecom department to the telecom regulator Trai.
“It has been around two to two and half years that the department has been imposing excessive penalties on telecom operators. I have been wanting to change their mindset but unfortunately it hasn’t changed. Maybe the best way forward is to give that power to TRAI,” Telecom minister Kapil Sibal said, on the sidelines of a CII event.
However, the minister added that it is work in progress and government is yet to take a final call on it. The telecom industry has been alleging that the telecom department officials generally take recourse to imposing the maximum penalty of Rs 50 crore on service providers permissible under licences for even minor violation.
Telecom secretary M.F. Farooqui said that there is some times lack of uniformity on the penalties levied, specially in cases of radiation.
“There is need to have some proportionality so that penalty levied in some way is related to the seriousness of the violation of the licence condition and not seen by anyone as means to raise revenue,” added Farooqui.
Meanwhile, Trai chairman Rahul Khullar said that the telecom industry is under stress financially because of falling margins and lack of foreign investments due to lack of confidence in public decision making.
“The industry is in financial duress. Indebtness is huge. There is no flow of foreign investment...Except for those companies which are foreign held.
And they may need to infuse some capital to meet the new FDI caps. Otherwise there are no foreign investors banging on your doors trying to enter the telecom sector,” he said.
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