CAG faults DoT for failing to recover 679 cr penalty

Government auditor CAG has pulled up the telecom ministry for not recovering Rs 679 crore as penalty or liquidated damages from six new operators for missing the network roll-out schedule as per the licence. Out of 122 Unified Access Service (UAS) licences awarded in 2008, as many as 85 licences were given to the six new entrants to the telecom sector. The audit found that none of them had rolled out services as per the provisions of licence.

These six companies are Unitech (brand name Uninor), Swan (name changed to Etisalat), Allianz (since merged with Etisalat), Datacom (name changed to Videocon), S Tel and Shipping Stop DoT Com (name changed to Loop Telecom).