Telecom Lead India: The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has slapped Rs 100 crore fine on Vodafone India for providing Subscriber Local Dialing (SLD) services in two circles between 2003 and 2005.
Vodafone’s rival Bharti Airtel is also facing a demand notice of Rs 650 crore for allegedly violating license norms on SLD service that allows roaming customers to be on the local network and thereby avoid paying roaming and STD charges.
While, Airtel needs to pay financial penalty of Rs 50 crore each for 13 circles, Vodafone faces penalty of Rs 50 crore for 3 circles including Mumbai and Delhi, Economic Times reported.
The report says DoT had directed Bharti and Hutch (now Vodafone) to stop providing this facility in June 2003, as it violated the national routing plan and helped companies avoid a levy charged with every long-distance call. However, the Hutch continued offering this service till 2005.
