The Hindu Business Line : Grey market calls: Govt pulls up pvt operators

THE Ministry of Communications has hauled up private operators for allowing grey market calls to be routed through their network, which was causing revenue loss to the national exchequer.

In a recent meeting with industry honchos, the Minister for Communications, Mr Dayanidhi Maran, said that the operators would be held responsible if any subscriber was using their network for routing calls through the grey market.

"The Minister has categorically told the operators that the Government would start penalising them if they failed to guard their network against grey market activities undertaken by any of their subscribers," said a senior official in Department of Telecom (DoT).

During the meeting, it was pointed out that the long distance network of Reliance Infocomm and Bharti Tele-Ventures together were being used for routing nearly 70 per cent of the grey market calls.

According to DoT data, Reliance's network accounted for 38 per cent of the calls that bypassed legal channels. A fine of Rs 150 crore was recently imposed on Reliance for illegal routing of international calls. DoT officials said that a similar penalty might be imposed on a few other operators, including Bharti.

The Ministry has also asked mobile operators to secure the pre-paid mobile network.

DoT has gone on an overdrive in the recent months to bust illegal exchanges sprouting across the country. Operators on their part have maintained that it was difficult to keep track of the activities of individual customers spread across the country who might be using their network for illegal activities.

Earlier, the security agencies had written to the Ministry of Communications to ensure that a proper monitoring system be deployed by the telecom service providers.

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Russia's AFK Sistema in deal to buy 49 pc Aircel stake for $450 m

Nepal air connectivity restored; tourism hit

`Excise collection may not meet target'

`Govt will step in to meet EPF shortfall'

Norms issued for competitive bidding to fix power tariff

Coffee exports down 6 pc on dip in production

Banks may be allowed to trade in commodities

Sensex up 90 points; crosses 6,600-mark

Banks move govt securities from active trading

Contributions to The Hindu Relief Fund

Grey market calls: Govt pulls up pvt operators