DoT has sought the Telecom Commission's approval to impose a combined fine of Rs 4 billion on seven telecom companies, including Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications Limited (RCL), Hutchison Essar and Tata Teleservices Limited (TTSL), for failing to fulfil their rollout obligations as per their licence conditions.

According to DoT, universal access service licence (UASL) conditions stipulate that operators must cover 10 per cent of the total number of districts in an area of operation within one year of the effective date of the licence. None of the seven companies has submitted the requisite certification from the Telecom Engineering Centre.