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AT&T, BT, Verizon may need to pay 
110 Crore penalty
By siliconindia
New Delhi: Foreign telecom operators such as AT&T, British Telecom, Equant (France Telecom) and Verizon may have to jointly shell out about 
110 crore as penalty for offering services 'illegally' in India, before obtaining licenses to operate in the country, reports Economic Times.
A committee set up by the communications ministry to look into the issue said that these operators had 'circumvented licensing norms by offering services here' prior to 2006 without licenses, leading to losses to the exchequer, and also recommended that the financial penalty be imposed. This committee's report was submitted to the Department of Telecom (DoT) on December 15, 2009.
However, this committee has also given a clean chit to the partners (Bharti Airtel, Tata Communications and Reliance Communications) of these international telcos. This committee has proposed that criminal cases not be levied against the foreign telecom operators despite the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) recommending the same.
All these telcos now offer national and international long-distance services in India (carry STD and ISD calls), and over the past three years, each of them have obtained commercial licenses to operate here. An earlier DoT committee set up to examine this issue had alleged that these international operators had provided long-distance services to customers in India by tying up with Indian counterparts leading to huge losses in levies to the exchequer. This earlier panel, in its report, had also added these foreign players had not paid a one-time entry fee of 25 crore (prior to January 1, 2006) plus 15 percent of their annual revenues as levies for offering long-distance services in India.
110 crore as penalty for offering services 'illegally' in India, before obtaining licenses to operate in the country, reports Economic Times.
A committee set up by the communications ministry to look into the issue said that these operators had 'circumvented licensing norms by offering services here' prior to 2006 without licenses, leading to losses to the exchequer, and also recommended that the financial penalty be imposed. This committee's report was submitted to the Department of Telecom (DoT) on December 15, 2009.
However, this committee has also given a clean chit to the partners (Bharti Airtel, Tata Communications and Reliance Communications) of these international telcos. This committee has proposed that criminal cases not be levied against the foreign telecom operators despite the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) recommending the same.
All these telcos now offer national and international long-distance services in India (carry STD and ISD calls), and over the past three years, each of them have obtained commercial licenses to operate here. An earlier DoT committee set up to examine this issue had alleged that these international operators had provided long-distance services to customers in India by tying up with Indian counterparts leading to huge losses in levies to the exchequer. This earlier panel, in its report, had also added these foreign players had not paid a one-time entry fee of 25 crore (prior to January 1, 2006) plus 15 percent of their annual revenues as levies for offering long-distance services in India.