The issue of DoT asking new entrant S Tel to immediately stop services is heading towards another controversy involving the DoT. A senior Home Ministry official says that it never asked DoT to direct S Tel to immediately stop services.

“The operator is yet to furnish details about interception measures employed and we have only asked DoT to ensure that the operator expedites the process,” says the official.

DoT on Friday had asked the operator to immediately stop its mobile services in its three circles of operations namely Bihar, Himachal Pradesh and Orissa. The DoT had only cited ‘security concerns’ as the reason for stopping the operator’s services.

The operator meanwhile has continued offering its services and company officials met Communications Minister A Raja on Monday in a bid to resolve the issue.

Service providers are required to follow rules and regulations pertaining to interception of their network by Indian security agencies including the Intelligence Bureau (IB) whenever the need arises. In the past Research in Motion’s Blackberry services were also under cloud as the standards employed by it did not allowed interception by Indian security agencies. However Blackberry was never asked to stop services and eventually the services were cleared.

S Tel was however given no prior notice and was in an unusual directive asked to stop its services.

The company maintains that it has followed all rules and regulations as required by the law before launching its services.