Bharti, Idea Cellular tank as Trai recommends Rs 3,050 crore fine

Shares of telecom incumbents declined in Monday’s trade after telecom regulator Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) recommended a Rs 3,050 crore fine on the top three network operators, as it believes the operators were denying new entrant Reliance Jio sufficient interconnection points.

Trai recommended Department of Telecommunication (DoT) to take action against listed firms, Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular, and unlisted Vodafone, saying that violation of licence norms warranted revocation of their permits.

Following the development, shares of Bharti Airtel fell 1.77 per cent to hit a low of Rs 303 on BSE. Idea Cellular dropped 2.5 per cent to a low of Rs 78.

Trai said it was a violation of the provisions of licence agreements and the standards of quality of service of basic telephone service (wireline) and cellular mobile telephone service regulations.

It is evident that Airtel is in “non-compliance of the terms and conditions of licence and denial of interconnection to RJIL (Reliance Jio) appears to be with ulterior motive to stifle competition and is anti-consumer”, Trai said in the letter.

“The act of Airtel is against public interest,” It said. Trai recommended a Rs 50 crore penalty for each of the country’s 21 circles, barring J&K, to be levied on Bharti Airtel and Vodafone, which adds up to Rs 1,050 crore for each operator.