Notices were despatched late on Wednesday night by the DoT. Companies have now been given time till September 7 to ensure full compliance. DoT has said, "failure to do so within seven days will be taken as a failure to comply with the unconditional acceptance given on the package for migration."

The list of companies who have missed out on some minor detail or the other encompasses almost the entire circle of cellular operators. Sources said some of the companies who have been issued such notices include the Fascel, JT Mobile and Essar Telecom. The amount of default ranges from Rs 5 lakh to a high Rs 20 crore in the case of one particular operator, said sources.

The DoT notice has come at a time when the implementation of the new telecom policy has been put to question. On one the hand companieshave not complied fully with conditions by way of either not paying liquidated damages, interest and non-withdrawal legal cases against the government, while on the other DoT is caught in a bind as it is not able to issue migration letters to even those operators who have complied fully. DoT had earlier issued an offer letter for migration to the new telecom policy on August 10, 1999. The offer envisaged that operators will have to withdraw all legal cases against the government and also pay up a total 35 per cent of outstanding licence fee dues.

Although most of the operators have cleared the main outstandings, some operators have disputed the liquidated damage claims while others have not paid the penal interest. One circle cellular operator Birla AT&T, in a case related to the withdrawal of application of Birla AT&T under Section 9 of Arbitration & Conciliation Act, 1996 had sought the liberty to refile the case in the event of NTP-99/migration being disapproved.

E-mail providers ask TRAI to scraplicence fee

Mumbai: E-mail service providers (ESPs) on Thursday vehemently opposed the licence fee terms proposed by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and claimed that there was no level-playing field for them vis-a-vis the internet service providers (ISPs).

At a meeting with TRAI here, the ESPs argued that in the case of a zero licence fee there would be a tremendous reduction in e-mail tariffs. They also questioned the necessity of providing separate licences for ESPs when e-mails can be sent through internet as well.

Arguing their case before TRAI, they pointed out that licence fee has been waived for ISPS up to October 31, 2003 and thereafter a licence fee of Re 1 per annum will be payable from the next day.

However, the proposal of the ministry of communications and the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) seeks to charge from the e-mail service providers licence fee from the sixth year of starting operations for a period of four years.

Currently, E-mail licences are forfive years extendable by two years at a time which is proposed to be increased to four years while ISPs are licenced for a period of 15 years extendable by five years or more at a time.

UNI