An internal analysis by the vigilance wing of the Department of Telecommunications has found that all leading telecom operators have violated the security instructions issued by it.
The study relates to the unearthing of dozens of illegal exchanges across the country over the last two years.
In January 2005 alone, the vigilance and telecom monitoring cell of the telecom department had busted 12 illegal exchanges throughout the country, where 188 connections of Reliance Infocomm, 178 of Hutch, 84 of Bharti, 24 of Spice, 16 of MTNL, 14 of BSNL and 4 of the Tatas were found to be involved.
The vigilance wing has said the estimated notional loss because of illegal exchanges must be recovered from service providers for failing to carry out regular inspections.
For instance, the department analysed the showcause notice to Bharti (dated October 13) and the service provider's reply (dated October 25) said in its report: "It is proved that the government faced losses because of bulk connections provided to BSP Marketing (in Delhi) by Bharti Cellular Ltd, and failure by Bharti to implement regular inspection at the premises of BSP Marketing. Hence the notional loss of Rs 9,816,892 must be recovered from Bharti."
A similar analysis for Idea states that notional losses of Rs 42 lakh (Rs 4.2 million) must be recovered from the service provider.
The telecom department was examining lapses on the part of various operators so as to take penal action against them, the sources added. Cellular operators, however, said there was no question of the government recovering the losses from them.
"Operators have never shied away from their duty. We have very stringent control measures and we do not disregard the terms and conditions of the telecom department. In the last three weeks, we have informed the DoT of 2,714 suspicious connections," said Narendra Gupta, group company secretary and group chief (regulatory affairs), Bharti Tele-Ventures.
On the telecom department's charge that AirTel officials had not cooperated during the Delhi raid, Gupta said the government had not taken the company into confidence at the planning stage so that timely support could be provided.
According to him, the department did not even have a policy that would allow the government to claim "notional loss" from operators.
Wrong numbers
Busted: The telecom department unearthed dozens of illegal exchanges across the country over the last two years
DoT feels: The department holds that service providers have not carried out regular inspections
Operators say: They have stringent control measures and do not disregard the terms and conditions of DoT
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