TDSAT halts ₹141 cr spam penalties on telcos, next hearing on August 8
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India's top three private telcos won't need to pay penalties to the tune of around Rs 141 crore levied by regulator for not being able to control spam till August 8, the next date of hearing on the case in the Telecom Disputes Settlement & Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT).The telecom tribunal, at a hearing Thursday, adjourned the matter till August 8, and asked the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) to submit an affidavit on the matter.During the hearing, both sides presented their arguments. As Trai has to share further information, the tribunal asked the counsel for the regulator to file an affidavit containing the requisite details.The regulator had levied penalties on all three private telcos - Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea - for failing to control spam. However, the operators had challenged the penalties, arguing that the regulator should not have levied the penalties when an anti-spam platform was still in the process of development. TDSAT had stayed the Trai's penalties in January.The fines were levied as part of the Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations, 2018 (TCCCPR). The telcos argue that the delays in implementation of spam control measures were caused due to Covid and they were not responsible for the delay.To support their point, the telcos submitted details to the TDSAT stating that when Trai imposed the penalties, the digital consent acquisition (DCA) platform was still being deployed.While staying the penalties in its January 28 order, the TDSAT had observed that telecom firms were not responsible for the delay in implementation of the regulations, including the DCA.'Thus, it is unfair and arbitrary on the part of the respondent to impose financial disincentives on the appellants (telcos) for something which was beyond their control,' TDSAT said in the January order.The levying of penalties on telecom firms as part of the TCCCPR has been a bone of contention between the regulators and telcos. While the regulator has been imposing penalties on telcos, it has not realised any money as operators contended that they should not be held accountable for something which they don't control or perpetuate.Failing to get the amount itself, the regulator had even asked the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to encash the bank guarantees of the companies to recover the amount. But the DoT has not agreed to the request of Trai.The regulator has been strengthening the TCCCPR rules, but the telcos argue that since key stakeholders like telemarketers, over the top (OTT) have been kept out of the purview of the rules, there won't be desired results to curb spam.
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