By IANS,
New Delhi: Communications Minister Kapil Sibal Saturday said telecom operators who missed the deadlines for the rollout of 2G services paid Rs.73.73 crore penalty and the government had not ruled out cancelling their licences.
“We had generated demand for over Rs.78 crore, of which the operators have submitted Rs.73.73 crore,” Sibal told reporters here.
The total penalty for missing out the rollout obligations amounts to Rs.219 crore.
The minister said Etisalat DB, Loop Telecom, Uninor, Sistema-Shyam and Aircel have paid the penalty so far, adding that more notices to erring operators would be issued.
He said his ministry is still discussing whether licences of such operators should be cancelled or not. “A decision will be taken after due consideration.”
Earlier this month, the government had issued showcause notices to these firms and had given them 15 days to respond.
Etisalat DB paid Rs.9.9 crore while Sistema-Shyam Teleservices Ltd shelled out Rs.11 crore for imposition of liquidated damages towards rollout obligations to the department of telecommunication.
Uninor, a joint venture between India’s Unitech and Norway’s Telenor also paid the penalty but said the ministry had not considered various factors that led to the delay, including last minute pre-launch testing.