April 22, 2016 by admin

Call drops due to greed: TRAI to SC

New Delhi, Telecom regulator TRAI today contended in the Supreme Court that the problem of call drops was due to cellular service providers’ greed for profit.Arguing before a Bench comprising Justices Kurian Joseph and Rohinton Nariman, Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi said India and China had almost the same number of cell phone users, but telecom companies in that country had invested 10 times more on upgrading technology.This was largely due to cartelisation of cellular service providers who numbered just four or five, he pleaded. While the companies’ annual revenue was a staggering Rs 1.42 lakh crore, they would have to pay a mere Rs 256 crore as compensation for dropped calls, which was not even their one day revenue, the AG pleaded. He said the companies’ claim that it would run into Rs 4,000 crore was wrong. While the entire West had replaced cellphone towers with better equipment, the companies in India were still using such towers as they did not want to invest, he pleaded.The Bench, however, wanted to know as to why the companies should pay compensation since call drops did not result in extra expenditure for the users or additional income for the providers. Rohatgi said the regulator would have to ensure users’ convenience.The Bench is hearing appeals against the Delhi HC upholding the penalty imposed by TRAI. It was to be paid from January 1 for a maximum of three call drops a day at the rate of Re 1 each.