COAI, on behalf of Indian mobile industry, has decided to file a special leave petition (SLP) in Supreme Court challenging the High Court’s order on call drop.
COAI has prayed to SC that the TRAI Regulation on Call Drops is ultra vires the TRAI Act in that the Act does not give TRAI adjudicatory powers and hence TRAI cannot grant compensation.
Further, the TRAI regulation is also ultra vires the Telegraph Act of 1885 under which Mobile companies are licensed wherein 100 percent coverage of the licensed geography is not required. Hence call drops emanating from these areas should not be subject to compensation.
COAI also noted that it is impossible to identify all the reasons for call drops and hence implementation of TRAI order is not feasible.
COAI is concerned about the inconvenience to customers, and it offered to work with the government to obtain required cell sites on government land and buildings.
“We believe the TRAI Regulation distracts the industry from focusing on the root causes of the problem which are lack of adequate spectrum and availability of cell tower locations,” COAI said in a statement.
The telecom industry has already invested more than Rs.50, 000 crore towards infrastructure upgradation and spectrum acquisition in 2014-15. There has been a substantial growth in network coverage and capacity with almost 70,000 additional cell sites being installed by the operators in the last 6 months to boost connectivity, the industry body noted.
