Blanket orders fuel cellcos’ ire

NEW DELHI: District authorities are asking cellphone cos to suspend services during polls to ‘prevent spreading of rumours’. This, naturally, has enraged the cellcos.

TV Ramachandran, director-general, COAI, the body representing all GSM operators, told ET, “The orders passed by the state authorities to meet their limited objectives shows how lax they are about the impact such directives can have on the public at large.”

Terming these orders as ‘unreasonable and incorrect’, another operator added, “The authorities not only disregard public opinion, but also expect cellular operators to do their job for them, which is to control ‘cheating and rigging’.”

ET has learnt that some operators have also asked the department of telecommunications to clarify if state authorities had the jurisdiction to issue ‘such blanket orders which penalise the public, so as to control the actions of a limited number of people’.

They also wanted DoT to specify as to “who would be responsible for losses or hardship suffered by consumers on account of such arbitrary actions by state authorities.”

Sure, operators want this trend to be nipped in the bud. “Else, many other state authorities will resort to such practices in future,” said an operator.