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Thomas K. Thomas

New Delhi , Sept 6

THE Department of Telecom (DoT) and the telecom regulator are at variance once again this time over the issue of imposing a Rs 50-crore penalty on Tata Teleservices for violating licence conditions by offering push-to-talk services.

The DoT has said that services, which allowed Tata subscribers to make long distance calls anywhere in the country at local call rates, could have posed a threat to national security as there were no security monitoring equipment.

On the other hand the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) said that since the operator has stopped the PTT service no penal action may be taken.

DoT is of the opinion that the company "wilfully" violated the terms and conditions of the licence with basic intention to bypass statutory charges like Access Deficit Charge (ADC). "It appears beyond doubt that the company wilfully violated the terms and conditions of the licence with undesirable intentions and could have created threat to national security," said a DoT report on the case.

While the TRAI agreed that the company launched a new service without the approval of the Government, it said that there was no mala fide intention from the operator's side.

DoT said that TRAI recommendations were not required for taking action for violation of terms and conditions of licence.

"Therefore the suggestion of TRAI that no penal action be taken cannot be agreed to," said a DoT official.

DoT has issued several show-cause notices to Tata Teleservices seeking an explanation for the violation. Earlier DoT had hauled up Reliance Infocomm for similar violations by offering international long distance calls at local call charges.

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