India Tribunal Asks Telecom Department To Refund Penalty Imposed For Delayed Rollouts

India's telecommunications tribunal Friday overturned the Department of Telecommunications' decision to levy penalties on some telecom companies for delays in rolling out services, and ordered it to refund the fines it had already collected.

Telenor ASA's (TEL.OS) unit Unitech Wireless Ltd., Emirates Telecommunications Corp. (ETISALAT.AD) unit Etisalat DB Telecom Pvt. Ltd. and Sistema JSFC's (AFKS.RS) Sistema Shyam Teleservices Ltd. are among the companies which paid the fines.

Mobile phone operators in India are required to launch their services within a year of receiving radio bandwidth.

The companies, which got their licenses in 2008 and were penalized by the department in late 2010, had appealed to the Telecom Disputes Appellate Tribunal against the order.

In its order, a two-judge bench of the tribunal said the department didn't give an opportunity to the companies to present their views, and asked the department to refund with interest the fines paid by the companies in four weeks.

Unitech Wireless, in a statement, said its contention was that the damages charged were unreasonable as they didn't "fully factor in the delays on the part of the Department of Telecommunications."

Etisalat DB Telecom didn't offer any comment, while Loop Telecom and Sistema Shyam weren't available for comments.

-By R. Jai Krishna, Dow Jones Newswires, +91.11.4356.3333; krishna.jai@dowjones.com

Telenor ASA (QX) (USOTC:TELNY)
Historical Stock Chart
From Oct 2024 to Nov 2024