The Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) has set aside a demand note by state-owned MTNL to private operators, Airtel and Vodafone, seeking return of interest on part of the network interconnect charges collected by them.
Allowing the plea of the operators and their industry lobby group COAI, TDSAT said MTNL would have to abide by its earlier order and can't deny the operators interest due on part of Interconnection Usage Charges (IUC).
The tribunal also expressed regret that while passing an order in this issue in April, it had "committed an inadvertent error" by not giving any directions for granting interest to the operators.
"We are of the opinion that this Tribunal has committed an inadvertent error by not directing grant of interest," said the TDSAT bench, headed by its Chairman Justice SB Sinha.
Telecom operators pay as well as collect IUC from one another for carrying and completing calls/SMSes that originate from outside of their own networks.
In 2003, telecom regulator Trai had determined that private operators, while collecting IUC on behalf of BSNL/ MTNL, would retain 5% as collection charges and bad debts.
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However, the PSUs didn't follow that and COAI moved TDSAT in 2003. It held that operators were entitled to such retention charges.
The telecom tribunal also asked PSU to pay the 5% retention charge along with an interest of 12%.
In October 2010, the court order remanded the matter to TDSAT asking it to consider the issue afresh.
In April, the tribunal again asked PSUs to pay the retention charge, but it did not say anything on the interest to be paid by them.
Later, MTNL issued demand notes to Airtel and Vodafone for Mumbai and Delhi service areas, asking them to deposit the interest amount that had been accrued to them, contending that it was not allowed by TDSAT to them in its 2011 order.
The operators and the COAI approached TDSAT seeking clarification on the order.