The Hindu Business Line : SC dismisses TTSL, RCom's pleas; 'have to pay Rs 700 cr to BSNL'

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has held Tata Teleservices 'Walky' and Reliance Communication's (formerly Infocom) 'Unlimited Cordless' as limited mobile phones, hence they are liable to pay Access Deficit Charge (ADC) to BSNL for interconnection.

A Bench headed by Justice H S Kapadia, while dismissing Tata Teleservices and Reliance Communication's petitions, has upheld telecom tribunal Telecom Dispute Settlement and Appellate Tribunal's (TDSAT) order of September 2005 that held these services are not fixed line telephones, but limited mobile.

The Supreme Court had earlier reserved its judgment on a petition filed by Tata Teleservices challenging the telecom tribunal's order which classified the company's fixed wireless phone service 'Walky' as limited mobile. With this, the apex court had al so reserved Reliance Communication's plea challenging TDSAT's order which held that its fixed wireless telephone was equivalent to mobile service and thus Reliance was liable to pay ADC of over Rs 400 crore.

The Tribunal in September 2005 had rejected the Tata Teleservices's petition and held that 'Walky' was actually a WLL (M) service, with limited mobility, and not a fixed telephone service, contrary to the licence granted to the company.

TDSAT had ruled that 'Walky' service offered by Tatas was a mobile service, thus the private company was liable to pay ADC to state-owned BSNL as per the interconnect order of telecom regulator TRAI. Thus, Tata would have to pay about Rs 300 crore as le vy to BSNL on account of ADC. - PTI

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