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India: TDSAT annuls Trai order on bandwidth tariffs Print E-mail
Friday, 29 April 2005
The Telecom Dispute Settlement Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) has set aside an order from Trai, the telecommunications regulator, which reduced international bandwidth tariffs by as much as 70%.

Videsh Sanchar Nigam (VSNL) challenged Trai's order in the telecom tribunal by claiming that Trai's recommended rates are below cost. The international bandwidth price order came into effect from April 1, 2005.

In setting aside Trai's order, TDSAT requested that the regulator look at the entire process and share the full methodology used to reach their recommended rates with VSNL. Earlier, VSNL had also challenged the order on other grounds, claiming that international bandwidth prices cannot be looked at in isolation and had questioned Trai's methodology.

In a tariff order issued in March, Trai fixed the tariff ceiling for three most commonly used capacities – E1, DS-3 and STM-1 – at Rs 13 lakh, Rs 104 lakh and Rs 299 lakh per annum respectively for the international private leased circuit (IPLC) half circuit.

This means that the new tariffs amounted to a tariff reduction of 35, 71 and 70 per cent for E1, DS-3 and STM-1 capacities respectively, compared to the existing prices. The new rates were applicable on all destinations, capacities and types of cable systems used for carrying either voice or data.

Source: The Economic Times