DoT slaps Rs 3,050 cr penalty on Airtel, VIL !

The Department of Telecom (DoT) has slapped a penalty of Rs 2,000 crore on Vodafone Idea and Rs 1,050 crore on Bharti Airtel based on sector regulator Trai''s recommendation five years ago. The DoT has given three weeks time to the telecom operators to pay the penalty. Trai's recommendation had come on a complaint by Reliance Jio that over 75 per cent of calls on its network were failing as incumbents were not releasing sufficient numbers of points of interface (PoIs). In October 2016, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) had recommended imposing a total penalty of Rs 3,050 crore on Airtel, Vodafone and Idea (now merged) for allegedly denying inter-connectivity to Reliance Jio. The regulator had, at that time, stopped short of recommending cancellation of their telecom licences saying it may lead to significant consumer inconvenience.