In a fresh development, the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) has refused to hear the Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea (Vi) penalty case today, i.e., October 26, 2021. According to a PTI report, TDSAT said that it won’t be hearing cases today. The reason behind the tribunal not sitting for a hearing today is unknown. To recall, on October 12, 2021, Justice Shiv Kirti heading TDSAT had listed the Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea penalty case for hearing on October 26. The tribunal had ordered the telecom department to not encash the bank guarantees until the next date.
Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea Were Slapped With a Penalty of Rs 3050 Crore
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) had asked Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea (Vi) to pay Rs 2,000 crore and Rs 1,050 crore, respectively. The telcos were asked to pay the concerned penalty for violating norms by denying Reliance Jio points of interconnect (PoIs) back in 2016. The DoT had put the penalty on the operators based on the recommendation from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). DoT had asked the telecom operators to pay the concerned penalty by October 21, 2021. For the unaware, PoIs are necessary for interconnecting the networks of the telecom operators. TRAI had received a complaint from Reliance Jio and after following up on the complaint, it was discovered that because Jio’s competitors weren’t releasing sufficient PoIs, 75% of voice calls being made on the network of Jio failed. Vodafone Idea lawyers have argued that TRAI has recommended the penalty to the DoT just on a single day’s reading of quality of service. As per norms, the regulator should have averaged the quality of service over 30 days, which it didn’t do. The hearing for the case was set for today but the TDSAT has not heard it for some unknown reason.
