NEW DELHI: The department of telecom (DoT) on Friday issued a terse communiqué to new telecom company S Tel, a joint venture between Chennai-based
Siva Group and Bahrain Telecom (Batelco), directing it to immediately stop its mobile services in the circles of Himachal Pradesh, Bihar and Orissa, citing national security concerns.
S Tel holds licences for six circles, but so far has launched services only in these three circles and has a little over 800,000 customers.
Top executives with the mobile firm expressed shock about the DoT directive and said that the telco launched services only after getting all requisite permission from the government through DoT letters dated 11 December, 2009 and 21 December 2009.
“We have not been given any reason or explanation and S Tel has followed all procedures and got the necessary approvals. We have sent our reply to the DoT and asked them to provide further details on the security issue,” P Swaminathan, director of S Tel and president of Siva Group told ET. Mr Swaminathan also added that the telco was ready to work with the government to address security concerns, if any.
“This will impact over 8 lakh mobile users. The government must provide us with details to sort it out as anything concerned with national security is a major issue,” he said.This also marks the first instance of the communication ministry asking a company to stop services immediately. In the past, the government has issued notices stating that companies may be asked to stop services if norms were not followed.
S Tel asked to stop mobile services- Telecom-News By Industry-News-The Economic Times
Siva Group and Bahrain Telecom (Batelco), directing it to immediately stop its mobile services in the circles of Himachal Pradesh, Bihar and Orissa, citing national security concerns.
S Tel holds licences for six circles, but so far has launched services only in these three circles and has a little over 800,000 customers.
Top executives with the mobile firm expressed shock about the DoT directive and said that the telco launched services only after getting all requisite permission from the government through DoT letters dated 11 December, 2009 and 21 December 2009.
“We have not been given any reason or explanation and S Tel has followed all procedures and got the necessary approvals. We have sent our reply to the DoT and asked them to provide further details on the security issue,” P Swaminathan, director of S Tel and president of Siva Group told ET. Mr Swaminathan also added that the telco was ready to work with the government to address security concerns, if any.
“This will impact over 8 lakh mobile users. The government must provide us with details to sort it out as anything concerned with national security is a major issue,” he said.This also marks the first instance of the communication ministry asking a company to stop services immediately. In the past, the government has issued notices stating that companies may be asked to stop services if norms were not followed.
S Tel asked to stop mobile services- Telecom-News By Industry-News-The Economic Times
