Uber, Ola, and TaxiForSure may get blocked in India’s capital

India’s Department of Telecommunications (DoT) today issued a notification to internet service providers to block the websites of app-based taxi providers Uber, TaxiForSure, and Ola in Delhi, The Indian Express reports. The authorities said that these companies were not operating legally as they were running cab operations without the necessary licences.

Uber and Ola declined to comment to Tech in Asia about this move. However, sources who did not wish to be named in both the firms said that they have not received any official acknowledgement yet.

Ban hammer

Taxi hailing firms were banned by Delhi’s government in December last year following rape allegations against one Uber driver. At the time, Delhi’s transportation department had ordered all web-based applications be shut down pending grant of radio-taxi licences. Ola continued to operate despite the ban, while Uber tweaked the way it operates in India to comply with authorities.

In March, the Delhi government asked the Ministry of Information Technology to block the taxi-hailing mobile apps of Uber and Ola in the city as authorities thought that this was the only way to enforce the ban.

However, despite the ban, people were still able to access the services of these operators and the apps remain available to this today.

In India, Uber is competing head on with homegrown Ola, which is backed by Softbank. Ola acquired TaxiForSure in March to bulk its muscles up against the global giant.