The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) today told the division bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Jayant Nath that the policy on call drop compensation would come into force from January 1, 2016.

However, TRAI said that no coercive steps would be taken against telecom network operators till January 6, 2016 in connection with call drop compensation norms.

The court was hearing a plea of telecom network operators for a stay on TRAI’s compensation policy for call drops, under which a rupee will be credited to the mobile users’ account for every call drop (restricted to three per day) starting January 2016.

Companies termed the order of TRAI as contradictory and destructive and sought quashing of the October 16 order mandating services provider to pay subscribers Re.1 per call drop experienced on their network, subject to a cap of three a day.

They said the TRAI does not have the power to grant compensation to end-subscribers under the TRAI Act and the decision to grant compensation is “without authority of law, without jurisdiction and is illegal”.

The mobile operators said the penalty was being levied without considering the infrastructure problems faced by the companies. Airtel, Idea Cellular and Vodafone India, among others, have moved the court to block the latest order by the TRAI.