The Hindu Business Line : DoT to step up monitoring against illegal long distance telephony

IN a bid to curb the menace of the growing grey market in the international long distance segment, the Department of Telecom (DoT) is planning to step up monitoring and conduct raids across the country.

Already 21 raids have been completed this year to track grey marketers, which is leading to annual loss of around Rs 1,800 crore to the exchequer, according to industry estimates.

It is also estimated that out of the total international traffic coming into India, about 30 per cent-50 per cent is now getting routed via the grey market operators.

The low cost of operations and the difference in arbitrage between legitimate and illegal channels is keeping the grey market alive.

Meanwhile, Cellular Phone Users Association of India, a consumer organisation has filed a public interest litigation with the Delhi High Court against DoT and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on grounds that the authorities have failed to curb the growing grey market.

The court has directed the Government to file a status report before September 8, on the measures it has undertaken to tackle grey market operations.

The petition filed by the consumer group said, "The present petition is concerned with the illegal market in international long distance telephony whereby the operators bypass legal routes, depriving and cheating the exchequer of hundreds of crores of rupees and also posing a security threat by providing an unchecked means of communication to terrorists, drug traffickers, economic offenders and those indulging in human trafficking which is clearly established. Though both the DoT and the TRAI have recognised the evils attached to illegal international long distance operations, identified its modus operandi and causes, and suggested various measures for checking the same, have nonetheless not acted upon their own recommendations or implemented their directives."

DoT officials said that the department was cracking down on offending companies especially Internet Service Providers (ISPs), who were allowing grey marketers to use their network.

They said that as against the nine raids conducted on 1998-99, the number of raids had gone up to 20 in 2003-04. DoT recently imposed a fine on three leading ISPs for allowing grey traffic on their network. TRAI, on its part, has suggested lowering the arbitrage rates for legal international long distance calls to remove the difference with the grey operators.

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