Both cellular and basic operators today said the recommendations of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on a unified licence regime and wireless-in-local-loop limited mobility were in complete disregard to licence terms and conditions.

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While the Association of Basic Telecom Operators expressed unhappiness over the imposition of a penalty on Reliance Infocomm, cellular operators called the regulator's decisions "ridiculous".

While basic operators welcomed the Trai decision to introduce a uniform licence, they were exploring the possibility of going to court against the imposition of a penalty on Reliance Infocomm.

"ABTO is surprised to note that Trai has recommended the imposition of penal interest on one of our members, Reliance Infocomm, and finds no basis for arriving at this conclusion which is in total disregard to the basic services licence terms and conditions," a statement released by the basic operators' body said.

Basic operators were, however, happy with the telecom regulator's decision on a unified licence regime.

"We welcome the recent recommendations made by Trai on the unified licence regime. These are very progressive and fair recommendations and a step in the right direction. We hope that this will make way for a more consistent regulatory environment," S Ramakrishnan, managing director, Tata Teleservices, said.

Cellular operators, on the other hand, said the decision had exposed the mistake made by the government in allowing WLL limited mobility.

"The decision to allow Reliance to offer call-forwarding facilities, which violates licence terms, by paying a monetary fine is in complete disregard of the law," a cellular operator said.

Cellular companies said it was absurd of Trai to impose a penalty on a service with retrospective effect.

"Reliance had lost and walked away from the fourth cellular bidding process and now Trai has allowed them to come back into the cellular business at a cost, for which there is no justification," said another cellular operator.

Taking on cellular operators, ABTO Secretary SC Khanna said: "Cell operators have been granted extensive benefits and concessions, notable among them being the migration to a revenue sharing regime and savings of up to Rs 20,000 crore (Rs 200 billion) on account of a reduction in licence fees."