DCC defers decision on Airtel, Vodafone, Idea penalty to next meeting

The Digital Communications Commission (DCC), formerly known as Telecom Commission, Thursday deferred the decision on cumulative penalty of Rs 3,050 crore on Airtel, Vodafone and Idea to its next meeting, according to an official source. The telecom watchdog Trai in October 2016 recommended imposing total penalty of Rs 3,050 crore on Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea for allegedly denying interconnectivity to newcomer Reliance Jio.

The regulator stopped short of recommending cancellation of their telecom licences saying it may lead to significant consumer inconvenience.

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"The decision on Rs 3,050-crore penalty on Airtel, Vodafone and Idea has been deferred for the next meeting," an official source told PTI on Thursday.          

The penalty on Airtel and Vodafone works out to about Rs 1,050 crore each, while in case of Idea Cellular it comes to about Rs 950 crore. The Trai's recommendation came on complaint by Reliance Jio that over 75 per cent of calls on its network were failing as incumbents were not releasing sufficient points of interconnection (PoIs).

In August, Reliance Jio had submitted to Trai that it will need 12,727 PoIs for mobile services and 3,068 PoIs for STD call facility before commercial launch of its services. The company launched commercial services on September 5.