The telecom operator Vodafone India recently moved to the Supreme Court after the Delhi High Court rejected the request under the petition seeking access to the cost model used by the telecom regulator to calculate interconnection usage charge, which means how much one telecom operator must pay another to connect calls between their networks.
Vodafone has filed a petition in the Supreme Court challenging Delhi High Court order that rejected its request in the matter a few weeks ago, according to two people aware of the development.
“ A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court against the division bench order of the high court,” one person said. The Vodafone plea, filed on Saturday, is scheduled on October 4-5, after the court reopens. Vodafone didn't respond to an emailed query.
The plea filed is related to the interconnection usage charge (IUC) paid by the network from where a call originates to the operator where it is received. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India decides the IUC.
Vodafone's appeal petition stated that TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) must make sure there is clarity in the procedure and that the division bench had & lsquo mistaken in holding that the telco does not have a vested legal right to the information sought,' said an official.
The UK-based carrier's Indian branch appears to have taken a similar line of argument as it did when it moved to the high court last month: that no access to the cost model amounted to a violation of the principles of natural justice and that operators were entitled to a clarity procedure in calculating the charge.
IUC currently charging 14 paise per minute, will decrease the charges to 6 paise a minute starting October 1 and will remove it from January 2020, TRAI said on September 19. Big Telecom operators such as Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India and Idea Cellular, which stand to lose about Rs 5,000 crore a year, disapproved the regulator's decision.
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