DCC clears penalty on Airtel, Voda Idea

The Digital Communications Commission (DCC) approved penalties on Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea for denying Reliance Jio Infocomm adequate points of interconnection (PoIs) in 2016, but has asked the regulator to review the amount, given their financial troubles, said people aware of the matter.

“DCC has accepted DoT’s (Department of Telecom’s) latest view that the regulator is well within its rights to recommend penalties,” a senior official told ET, following the commission’s meeting on Monday. “But it has decided to send the recommendation once again to the telecom regulator, to reconsider the amount of penalty, since the sector is under financial duress.”

The official added that the DCC left it to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) to decide whether the penalties could be lowered from the recommended maximum of ₹50 crore per licence area. “Some members of the DCC felt it might be very harsh on the telcos and so it could be brought