It seems that in India the private telcos can violate any government law for their profit and the government will succumb to their pressure. Instances are many – BlackBerry still denying its encryption code to government, Reliance violation of international calls treated as local calls etc. In very rare cases only they are punished that too with a very meagre penalty.
The latest violation is on the 3G roaming. In the 3G auction, private companies were allowed to bid for circle of their choice. At the same time BSNL was asked to pay spectrum fee for al the circles at the rate of the highest bid for that circle.
Now a cartel agreement had been made by the private companies Air-Tel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular on 3G roaming so that all these companies can have pan India connectivity without paying spectrum charges.This is a serious violation of the rules as also a great discrimination to BSNL which was compelled to pay for 3G spectrum in all the circles.
These private companies should be taken to task and punished for these violations. Will the government take punitive action or dance to the tune of the private companies?