Four foreign telcos penalised

MUMBAI: DoT has hauled up foreign telecom majors for alleged ‘‘circumvention of licensing norms'' that caused losses to the exchequer. The DoT has suggested penalties of Rs 86.43 crore for AT&T, Rs 11.77 crore for British Telecom, Rs 11.66 crore for Equant Networks and Rs 5.61 lakh for MCI Verizon. The amounts were calculated based on the loss of revenue to the government.According to a DoTnote, which is in the possession of TOI, ‘‘Some of the foreigntelecom companies...have been selling managed data network services and othertelecom services for years, without any licence from DoT and in gross violationof FDI norms in the telecom sector.''A committee -- constitutedunder the chairmanship of the additional secretary, DoT -- to look into thematter relating to violations of licence terms, has held that thesemultinationals procured the ILD (international long distance) services fromlicensed operators VSNL, Reliance and Bharti Airtel.However, thecommittee has held that the Indian ILD licensees -- Bharti, Reliance and VSNL— have not violated any terms and condition of the ILD licence. Thecommittee has further recommended ‘‘that the case be closed'' forthe domestic players.When contacted by TOI, officials at the threedomestic firms said they did not wish to comment on the issue, since‘‘they have not violated the law''. An AT&T official, too,declined to comment.‘‘These foreign companies have beendepriving the government for years by indulging in such activities...and causinghuge loss of revenue to the exchequer...by not paying the statutory license feesand other taxes and levies,'' the draft note adds.