New Delhi: The new Information Technology (IT) and Communication Minister Arun Shourie on January 30 warned of severe penalties for non-fulfilment of commitments made by either private players or the public sector units (PSUs) for activities like rural telephony.

"No commitment should be written off whatsoever. Any non-fulfilment of commitment should attract sever penalties," Shourie told reporters immediately after taking over the charge of IT and Communication Ministry.

Sending strong signals to the private sector, Shourie said all contenders should hold on to their commitments made while procuring licences, be it for cellular or basic telephony.

He also recalled the instance of licence fee commitment made by the private cellular operators and later on getting migration package to revenue share regime and also the rural telephony commitments made by the basic telecom players.

PTI