Prompted by a spate of complaints against telecom operators violating licence conditions, TRAI has asked the government's permission for setting up an enforcement wing to ensure discipline.

The government has yet to respond to the regulator's request, which was sent a few weeks ago. Currently, TRAI, with a staff strength of just over 100, relies entirely on the vigilance mechanism of DoT. In the recent past, it had referred to DoT complaints against private operators like Reliance for allegedly re-routing international calls as local ones.