Four telecom shares fell by 0.44% to 2.43% at 14:07 IST on BSE on reports a court dismissed Vodafone India's plea asking for more clarity on the interconnect usage charge.
Bharti Airtel (down 2.43%), Idea Cellular (down 1.95%), Reliance Communications (down 0.88%) and Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) (down 0.44%), edged lower.
Telecom tower infrastructure provider Bharti Infratel was down 1.79%
Meanwhile, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 138.04 points, or 0.44% at 31,840.29.
According to reports, a court has dismissed Vodafone India's plea that sought more transparency from the telecom regulator in its consultation process on the interconnect usage charge (IUC), dealing a setback to incumbent telecom companies who wanted the authority to tell them the cost models that it is using to arrive at the fee.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) is believed to be considering lowering the IUC - a charge paid by the operator of the network from where a call originates to the telco where it terminates - to 7-8 paise a minute from the current 14 paise, and set a 1-2 year roadmap to gradually move to a Bill & Keep (B&K) regime which will mean zero interconnect charges, media reports suggested. The regulator is reviewing through the consultation process the fee which Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular want doubled while new entrant Reliance Jio Infocomm (Jio) wants scrapped.
The Delhi High Court's reason for dismissing the plea was not immediately known. Late August, Vodafone India had reportedly filed a petition in the court, seeking more transparency on the model on which the IUC charges are calculated.
Reports added that Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular and unlisted entity Vodafone India will get dented the most if IUC is lowered or scrapped, as they are the biggest operators by subscribers and garner a major share of the termination charge.
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