The Hindu Business Line : Tribunal upholds TRAI order to scrap access deficit charge

New Delhi, May 12 The Telecom Dispute Settlement Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) has rejected petitions by Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd challenging abolition of the access deficit charge (ADC) by the telecom regulator.

ADC was a levy imposed by the TRAI on private telecom operators for funding rural telephone connections. Since BSNL operates more than 95 per cent of the rural phones, almost all the money collected through this levy was being pocketed by the PSU. The levy was introduced in 2003 and removed in 2008 by TRAI.

Social obligation

BSNL had challenged the decision to do away with the levy on grounds that it had to fulfil social obligation and, therefore, continue to need subsidy support.

Dismissing petitions, the TDSAT bench headed by Mr Justice Arun Kumar said: “As regards ADC, we hold that the appellant (BSNL) has no legal right to ADC; that the ADC has rightly been designed as a depleting regime; that the ADC was rightly terminated in the year 2008-09 and that the manner of calculating ADC each year was fair and reasonable, given the facts available with TRAI.

Contention rejected

“We do not find any basis to support the contention of the appellant that the mobile termination charges have been wrongly fixed by the authority.”

The tribunal also rejected BSNL’s contention that TRAI was wrong while calculating ADC and relied on faulty data.

It further said that BSNL did not have any reliable data over the quantum of loss suffered by it for its rural obligations.

“We find no impropriety or irrationality in the authority in not having entered into detailed calculations regarding ADC. The counsel for respondent (TRAI) pointed out that the total amount of ADC received by BSNL all these years far exceeds the costs incurred by it. There is reason to believe that this could be so.

“Without determining this specific aspect, we hold that the authority was right in the manner of arriving at the quantum of ADC each year,” TDSAT said.

Related Stories:
BSNL may get relief for rural phone burden
Supreme Court asks Tata Tele, RCom to pay Rs 700 cr to BSNL
TRAI does a rethink on phasing out access deficit charges
Telecom operators welcome access deficit charge phase-out
TRAI mulls lower mobile charges for rural areas

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Tribunal upholds TRAI order to scrap access deficit charge