New Penalty Rule for Telecom Operators to Be Finalised Soon: Prasad

"The process of rationalisation for imposition of penalty is under active consideration," Prasad said.

When asked about the specific time line, the telecom minister said that it will be put in place "very soon".

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Inter-ministerial panel of Telecom Commission in March 2014 had approved a new penalty scheme with five slabs ranging from Rs. 1 lakh to Rs. 50 crores for violation of norms by mobile operators. But they are yet to be notified. Under the proposed scheme of penalty, fines start with a warning that invite a penalty of Rs. 1 lakh for minor violation and move up in line with severity at Rs. 1 crores, Rs. 5 crores, Rs. 20 crores and Rs. 50 crores.

Apprehending that they may be charged of favouring telecom operators, DoT officials had started imposing maximum penalty of Rs. 50 crores even for minor mistakes.

"Earlier, the elements of flexibility and discretion were not there," Prasad said.

He said that the next two years will be great for expansion of mobile services driven by quality.

In the coming days, common service centres, rural post offices, rural BPO schemes and digital village scheme are going to be game changers, he said.

"These four things will become cutting edge base of digital India."

The government will increase the number of common service centres (CSC) to 2 lakh and convert most of the rural post offices into CSC, the minister said.