The Hindu : Business : `Reliance Infocomm misrepresented facts'

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Saturday, Feb 05, 2005

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`Reliance Infocomm misrepresented facts'

By Ashok Dasgupta

NEW DELHI, FEB. 4 . The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) today informed the Telecom Dispute Settlement Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) that while routing international long distance (ILD) calls as local ones, Reliance Infocomm had "misrepresented" facts to avoid the payment of access deficit charges (ADC).

The department, in its counter-affidavit filed with the TDSAT, said that its decision to impose a Rs.150-crore penalty on the private operator was arrived at only after it was established that the licence norms had been violated.

With Reliance Infocomm having challenged its decision to impose the penalty, DoT, in its affidavit, noted that the stand taken by the private operator "established the intentions of the petitioner to continue its deceptions for as long as possible.It appears that the petitioner (Reliance) is only interested in delaying the execution of the orders."

The DoT submitted that avoidance of ADC payment by the company affected the financial viability of the other service-providers and, therefore, was not in the public interest. Moreover, the state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) had also slapped a penalty of Rs. 180 crores on the company for such illegal routing.

According to a senior DoT official, there was no reason for DoT to withdraw its order imposing the penalty as violation of the licence conditions had been established.

The Minister for Communications and IT, Dayanidhi Maran, told a news channel today that the Government would not be a "silent spectator" in the Reliance Infocomm case and its licence could be "revoked" in case the private operator failed to pay up the penalty.

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