TRAI recommends Rs 485 cr penalty for Reliance Info

TRAI said Reliance should pay Rs 1,580 cr, including fine for violating WLL terms, for a unified licence.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Monday recommended imposing penalty on India's largest private sector basic telephony service provider, Reliance Infocomm, for offering mobility services almost similar to cellular phones, to its wireless phone (WLL) subscribers.

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TRAI member Rajendra Singh said Reliance Infocomm should pay Rs 15.8 billion to migrate to a unified licensing scheme, which included a Rs 4.85 billion ($107 million) penalty for violating a fixed phone licence agreement.

The telecom regulator, while suggesting a single licence for basic landline and cellular telephony, said that Reliance should pay additional penalty over and above the entry fee for already offering mobility services almost similar to cellular mobile services.

While the cellular telephony service providers are not required to pay any additional licence fee for acquiring the single licence called unified licence, the basic operators would have to pay the difference of fee they paid and that of fourth cellular operator.