Role clarity for CCI from Supreme Court

Licensing regulators may have primacy on specific areas occupied by regulation

A recent decision of the Supreme Court on the interplay between the statutory roles of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) and the role of the Competition Commission of India (CCI) may lead to uninformed rejoicing by participants operating in licensed markets. The order deserves a detailed reading for its lucid explanation of how the two statutory agencies’ roles ought to be reconciled.

The apex court, in the facts of the case it was deciding (the dispute between a newcomer participant and other telecom operators) found that the questions of fact and law to which answers had to be