Telecom Regulatory authority of India ,TDSAT ,DOT and Telecom Disputes in India

History of TRAI

When Indian Telecom market was opened for Private companies  need arised of a regulatory authority to monitor fair play by all telecom operators and protection of consumer rights. With this idea TRAI(Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) was formed on 20 Feb, 1997 by Act of Parliament , called as Telecom Regulatory Authority of India , 1997.

The directions, orders and regulations issued cover a wide range of subjects including tariff, interconnection and quality of service as well as governance of the Authority.

India, The Fastest growing telecom market and Challenges

TDSAT

The TRAI Act was amended by an ordinance, effective from 24 January 2000, establishing a Telecommunications Dispute Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) to take over the adjudicatory and disputes functions from TRAI. TDSAT was set up to adjudicate any dispute between a licencor and a licensee, between two or more service providers, between a service provider and a group of consumers, and to hear and dispose of appeals against any direction, decision or order of TRAI.

  After formation of TDSAT , TRAI has powers of  a policy making and imposing penalty on policy violation .If any of the policy made by TRAI seems biased operators can go to TDSAT against decision of TRAI . 

DOT

Department of Telecommunications has a different role compared to TRAI and TDSAT . Main work of DOT is to issue licenses to the operators, selling of spectrum(frequency) for telecommunication and management in the field of radio communication in co-ordination with international bodies .

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited(Government PSU in Telecom)

Controversies with TRAI

Although TRAI is a regulatory authority to give all operators fair play in telecom sector , but with the entry of RJIO few policy decisions of TRAI has been controversial and strongly opposed by other operators but couldn't get any relaxation.Few decision of TRAI caused controversy ,like-

1) Reduction in InterconnectChareges

From Oct 1, 2017 TRAI reduced interconnect charges from 14 paisa to 6 paisa. Interconnect charge is the charge what an operator need to pay to other operator for any call from its own  network which goes in others network. RJIO being a new entrant and unlimited free calls from its network was the biggest gainer of this decision. While old operators like AIRTEL,VODFONE, IDEA with major customer base were the sufferer due to sudden decline of revenue from interconnect charges.

2) Predatory Pricing

As per TRAI decision ,"A tariff will be considered predatory if in a “relevant market”, a telecom operator with over 30% market share offers services at a price which is below the average “variable cost”, with a view to reduce competition or eliminate the competitors in the “relevant market”.

This definition allows RJIO to offer low cost services while other players could not reduce their charges below certain level . AIRTEL and IDEA appealed against this decision of TRAI in TDSAT but couldn't get stay.

3 ) Free services by JIO

With the launch of RJIO on 5th September 2016 it offered free services for three months for its customers as "Welcome offer" then extended on December 1,  further till 31 March, 2017 as (Happy New year offer). AIRTEL, IDEA and VODAFONE appealed against extension of free services by  RJIO in TDSAT . But on 1 February,2017 , TDSAT ruled that Reliance Jio’s “welcome” and “happy new year” offers were non-discriminatory and non-predatory.