Bharti Airtel Ltd.

In order to penalise Bharti Airtel for violating roaming norms in 13 service areas between 2003 and 2005, the Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal has approved levying of Rs 650 crore fine on the company. The Minister has approved penalty of Rs 650 crore on subscriber local dialing (SLD) matter and the demand notice will be issued to the company this week.

An internal committee of Department of Telecom had alleged that Bharti Airtel had continued to route national and international calls as local calls (SLD) under a scheme till 2005 despite being told to stop it in 2003 causing loss to the government exchequer and state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL).

Bharti Airtel is a leading integrated telecommunications company with operations in 20 countries across Asia and Africa. The company ranks amongst the top 5 mobile service providers globally in terms of subscribers.