Peeved at the telecom regulator’s order on call drop compensation which has been mandatory for the mobile operators to compensate subscribers for every call drop beginning from January 1, 2016, industry associations such as Association of Unified Service Providers in India (AUSPI) and Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), dragged TRAI to the High Court on Thursday, challenging the order on particular reason that the telecom regulator didn’t hold such power to order telcos to pay any compensation.
In October, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) had ordered all telecom operators to pay a compensation of Rs1 per call dropped from January 1, with a maximum cap of Rs3 per day per subscriber. As the telecom department supported the regulator’s view, the industry has since alleged that the regulator had over-stepped its powers.
According to the petition filed by the operators, the regulations already specify parameters and benchmarks for network coverage and provides for monetary consequences in the event such benchmarks are not met.
“They provide, among other things, for a call drop parameter of 2 per cent and prescribe financial disincentives for failing to meet the benchmark,” the statement issued by COAI said.
Acknowledging the development, the statement said, “The regulation proposed by TRAI may not be the solution to the challenge of dropped calls, as the root problem lay somewhere else.”
TRAI has not taken into account or appreciated key factors beyond the control of service providers such as closing down and sealing of cell-sites, swap of spectrum, which the statement says are substantially responsible for the call drops.