The new entrant in the telecom sphere, S Tel has been asked to stop services immediately after Department of Telecom (DoT) passed a terse communiqué. S Tel is a joint venture agreement with the Chennai-based Siva Group and Baharin Telecom.

The company has been asked to stop its services in circles like Himachal Pradesh, Bihar and Orissa because of national security concerns. With a customer base of over 8,00,000, S Tel has been only operating in the three aforementioned circles.

The company however, holds a license for six circles. While the company is upset that the telecom major entered the Indian market only after getting all the permissions from the government and obtaining the required DoT approvals and the decision came without any explanation. This is the first instance that the ministry has acted so strict against a telecom company asking the latter to stop services with immediate effect.

There have been warnings to several companies asking them to follow norms properly. While no specific communication has came from DoT, industry officials believe that its DoT's own sweet revenge against the case filed by S Tel accusing the former of being bias in 2G auction which took place in early 2008.