Erring telcos may be fined up to Rs 50 crore

NEW DELHI, INDIA: Taking note of the violation of its directive by four telecom operators, including public sector companies BSNL and MTNL, the Department of Telecom said it would conduct inquiry into the issue of these companies allowing their service on handsets with non-genuine IMEI number and assured that the necessary action would be taken. The other two companies are Idea Cellular and Reliance GSM.

“There can be no compromise on any issue concerning national security. We are looking into the matter. If these companies are found guilty then each of them can be fined up to Rs 50 crore which is mentioned in their licensing condition,” a senior official from DoT told CIOL.

In an investigation by CIOL, these companies were found running their service on some handsets without genuine IMEI number in violation of a DoT directive issued on September 3, 2009.

The directive issued from DoT had asked operators to bar their service after November 30, 2009 on handsets which do not have genuine IMEI number.

The department had also asked telecom operators to maintain equipment identity register (EIR) so that the calls from mobile handsets without IMEI or that with all zeros as IMEI number or non-genuine IMEI number are not allowed on the telecom network.

The directive on IMEI was first issued in October 2008 and the last date was extended three times. The final date for barring these services came in the directive issued on September 3, 2009. Even after this notification, Cellular Operators of India (COAI) requested DoT to extend the date of November 30, 2009 but it was refused by DoT.

“There were several request from COAI but we refused to give them any further extension. No extension had been given to them after November 30, 2009 in the interest of national security,” said the DoT official.

However, even after more than three months of this final date, some of the operators were allowing their service on barred handsets.