Telecom regulator to comply with Supreme Court's call drop order

The Indian telecom regulator said on Friday it will comply with the apex court's order asking it to consider technical reasons of call drops and if the proposed penalty can be amended.

"Whatever has been ordered by the Supreme Court shall be complied with," Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) chairman R.S. Sharma said in an interview with CNBC TV18.

The Supreme Court on Thursday asked the TRAI whether it would relook its decision imposing penalty on the telecom service providers for call drops in the wake of its own technical paper endorsing the position taken by them.

"Because the matter is sub-judice - pending before the apex court of the country, it will not be appropriate for me to make any kind of observation. The only observation which I can make is that the orders of the Supreme Court shall be carried out in letter and spirit. That's what I can say," said Sharma.

Asking the TRAI whether it still maintained position on penalty for the call drops or would consider re-examining it in the light of its own technical paper of November 2015, a bench of Justice Kurian Joseph and Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman told it to file an affidavit stating its position before next date of hearing (March 30).

"Factually, it appears that nobody had seen technical papers on the day of the framing of the regulation (imposing penalty for call drops). Please take into account the technical paper and tell us whether you consider amending the regulations or you still want to stand by it. Whatever you have to say, tell us with reasons," it said.

Sharma reiterated TRAI will conduct another round of drive tests in April to see if there is any improvement in the call drop menace.