Idea Cellular overcharged users, Trai orders telco to deposit Rs 3 cr penalty

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has instructed Idea Cellular to deposit Rs 2.97 crore in the telecom consumer education fund for overcharging subscribers. Trai said the country’s third-largest telecom operator had collected the amount by overcharging its subscribers in four states during May 2005 to January 2007. In May 2005, the department of telecom (DoT) amended licence conditions to allow inter-service area connectivity between telecom operators in Maharashtra, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh. Following this, calls within these four states were treated as intra-service area calls, or simply put local calls, for the purpose of call routing and levy of access deficit charge (ADC).

Despite the order, Trai said some telecom operators kept charging ‘differential (higher) tariff’ for calls to BSNL/MTNL in paired circles, which after examination by the regulator was found to be ‘discriminatory and inconsistent with the amended licence conditions’. Subsequently, in February 2006, operators were instructed to discontinue differential tariffs. This was challenged by the operators and industry body COAI in the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT), but their appeal was dismissed in December 2006. COAl and some operators then filed a civil appeal before the Supreme Court challenging the TDSAT order, which was dismissed by the apex court in January 2015.

Following this, Trai in an order, issued on August 24, 2017, said, “The authority hereby directs Idea to deposit the amount of Rs 2,97,90,173 charged in excess from its subscribers during the period from May 2005 to January 2007, as computed by Idea, in Telecom Consumer Education and Protection Fund (TCEPF) and report compliance within 15 days of issue of this direction.” Since the amount cannot be refunded to subscribers by Idea due to non-availability of call detail records (CDRs), the regulator directed Idea to deposit it in the Telecom Consumers Education and Protection Fund.

IDEA Cellular Limited