Barely three days after stating that government was open to empowering the telecom regulator, Communications and Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad seems to have changed his mind.

In response to a letter from Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar, the minister said the regulator had “wide ranging powers” and “the need to amend the Trai Act is not felt at this juncture.

” Experts are seeing this as a clear indication that the government is not inclined to grant more powers to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, which had sought a mandate to penalise telecom companies and imprison executives, after its proposed penalty on call drops was struck down by the Supreme Court. Prasad, in a letter dated June 3, wrote:

“I have had the matter looked into. In this connection, it is intimated that Trai is empowered by the Trai Act to lay down the standards of quality of service to be provided by service providers and ensure the quality of service by conducting periodical surveys of such services so as to protect the interest of consumers. '

Since the Trai has wide ranging powers, the need to change the Trai Act is not felt at this juncture.” The regulator had sought powers to levy a penalty of up to Rs 10 crore and a jail term of up to two years for top executives of telcos if they fail to meet its regulations.