The telcos had termed the regulation as "arbitrary and whimsical" contending that providing compensation to consumers amounted to interfering with companies' tariff structure which could be done only by order, not regulation.
The high court, while brushing aside the contention of telcos, had also observed that the compensation for call drops was capped at Rs 3 only and the regulation also mandated only compensating the calling consumer not the receiver.
Earlier, TRAI had told the high court that consumers have a right to get compensated for call drops and this was different from the quality of service guidelines that cellular service providers have to follow under the licence conditions.
TRAI had termed the call drops as a "pervasive problem", saying it amounted to "harassment" of consumers as well as breach of contract that telcos had with subscribers.
TRAI had on December 22, last year told the court that no coercive steps would be taken against telecom firms till January 6 for not complying with the call drop compensation norms.
