1. New Penalty Norms
For Unified Access Service Providers in the Pipeline
Per the unified license agreement, the maximum penalty for
violation of any term and condition of the unified license is INR
500 million exclusive of liquidated damages. It has been observed
that DoT usually imposes penalties disproportionate to the
violations. As a result of the heavy criticism within the industry,
DoT will notify new penalty norms which are expected to be enforced
by the end of February 2015. The Telecom Commission has approved a
graded system of imposition of penalties. As part of the new
penalty system, factors such as the seriousness of the violation
and its impact on the industry, the policy environment, the
government exchequer, customer and national security will be taken
into consideration while deciding the penalty. The penalties have
been categorized in the following categories i.e. fine of INR
100,000 will be imposed in case of warning, INR 10 million for
