DCC Approves Penalties On Airtel, Vodafone, Idea

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The Digital Communications Commission (DCC) has approved imposing a penalty on Airtel and Vodafone Idea for not providing interconnectivity to Reliance Jio Infocomm.

 
DCC Approves Penalties On Airtel, Vodafone, Idea

However, DCC asked the TRAI to review Rs. 3,050 crore the penalty amount, amid financial stress in the sector.

 

"DCC has agreed to impose a penalty on Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea for not providing points of interconnection to Reliance Jio. However, the Commission has decided to take Trai's view on revising quantum of penalty in the backdrop of stress in the sector," PTI quoted an official.

For the unaware, "Interconnection usage charges" or "IUC" means the charge payable by one service provider to one or more service providers for the usage of the network elements for origination, transit or termination of the calls.

To recall, TRAI in October 2016 recommended imposing a total penalty of Rs. 3, 050 crores on Sunil Mittal -led Bharti Airtel and Vodafone for denying interconnectivity to Jio.

According to the regulator's recommendation, the penalty for Airtel and Vodafone would be around Rs 1,050 crores each, while in a case of Idea Cellular it comes to about Rs 950 crores.

As we all that the telecom sector is already sitting on huge debt and imposing another penalty on them will put more pressure on their revenue books and they may move to court against the levy of any fine.

DCC Wants TRAI To Reconsider Recommendations On Spectrum Auctions

DCC has recently approved the terms and conditions for 5G trials in India. The decision-making body said that the telecom regulator should reconsider all its recommendations on spectrum auctions, including pricing and quantum of airwaves that will be put on offer.

"The DCC didn't go into the issue of pricing as such... it only said if these recommendations are capable enough to sell all the spectrum and also if they are in line with 5G and broadband for all objects of the Central government.," the official said.

The apex body of telecom department wants TRAI to review the entire pricing policy of spectrum as the sector is in very bad condition, but in the end, it's in TRAI hands.

However, we strongly believe that TRAI should look into the matter as almost all operators are saying no the auction because of the high pricing of spectrum.

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