Importantly, the Supreme Court has ordered telecom firms to expose to the regulator TRAI the information of special tariffs and offers made to customers. Letting an interim application of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, a bench of Chief Justice and Justices said that looking for adherence to the regulatory principles such as “transparency” and “non-discrimination” by the telecom companies was not either illicit or baseless.
The order has said that henceforth the IA is permitted and a direction is issued to Bharti Airtel Ltd and others to reveal data that is sought by TRAI regarding segmented offers. It was the duty and accountability of TRAI to make sure that these kinds of information are kept confidential and are not accessible to the opponents.
TRAI had made it compulsory for the telecom operators to expose information on all such plans. Companies such as Airtel and Vodafone had although denied the decision and have sought relief from the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal based on these offers which were not tariff plans and, therefore, did not need revelations. Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd and state-owned mobile operators have obeyed the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India order.
Image from TRAI
TDSAT has ruled against the regulator’s order and has said that TRAI had no right to call for such all-purpose details from the mobile service operators. The top court has noticed that the dominion and power of TRAI to publish the Telecommunication Tariff Order of 16th February 2018 was not extremely doubtful.
Nonetheless, the jurisdiction and power of TRAI have appeared to have been interrogated in one of the appeals before TRAI, the TDSAT has not chronicled any definite finding that TRAI had no dominion and power to request details of segmented offers.
The apex court has said that everything that TDSAT has found of the questioned order is that segmented offers and discounts delivered in the normal course of corporate to prevailing clienteles with no discernment inside the target segment, do not amount to a tariff plan and that consequently there isn’t any requirement for reporting. Segmented offers are preferments and discounts made to clients showing predisposition towards fluctuating to other telecom companies.
To hold consumers, the firms normally deliver enhanced data speeds, special customer status, access to over-the-top streaming platforms mid others. Previous, the Delhi High Court had denied hindering with telecom tribunal TDSAT’s interim order putting on hold regulator TRAI’s rule instructing reporting of customized discounts and franchises presented to choose subscribers by older service providers which are Airtel, Idea, and Vodafone. It had rejected to stay the decision and had said it will request the tribunal to accelerate the hearing of the pleas which are moved by Airtel and Idea Cellular contrary to TRAI’s rule.
