Telecom major Vodafone on Thursday moved the Supreme Court seeking stay on the new termination charge announced by Trai recently. The new regulations slashed termination charges on calls made from mobile phones by about 30% to 14 paise per minute from the current level of 20 paise per minute besides removing such rates on calls made from a fixed line to mobiles and vice-versa. Interconnection charges are paid by a telecom service provider for using the network of other operators for transmitting and completing a call.
Vodafone’s counsel wanted an urgent hearing from the apex court. Terming such regulations, which have a pan India effect, as arbitrary, the company alleged that the telecom regulator couldn’t have issued new norms in view of the the matter pending before the apex court. Fresh regulations could not have been issued without the court’s intervention, it added. While Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India and Idea Cellular, which hold over 70% of the market share, are largely affected by the new regulations, smaller operators like Uninor, Aircel and Tata Teleservices stand to gain by the new rates.
