What walks cannot be fixed: Tdsat

What started as a dispute over incorrect advertising turned serious today, with the telecom tribunal TDSAT asking Tata Teleservices to pay A...

What started as a dispute over incorrect advertising turned serious today, with the telecom tribunal TDSAT asking Tata Teleservices to pay Access Deficit Charges ADC for running its 8216;Walky8217; service.

The tribunal8217;s decision is in response to an appeal filed by the Tatas in January, and could well cost the company Rs 18-20 crore in ADC payments to BSNL. This amount is roughly equal to the total investment Tata made in launching 8216;Walky8217;.

In January, 2005, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Trai asked Tata Teleservices and Reliance Infocomm to withdraw advertisements for their 8216;Walky8217; and 8216;Unlimited Cordless8217; services, respectively. While Infocomm complied with the Trai order, Tata refused and petitioned TDSAT.

Trai argued before Tdsat that the advertisements for Walky were promoting fixed wireless services as a mobile phones.

Soon after, the department of telecom DoT and BSNL pointed out that apart from incorrect advertising, 8216;Walky8217; actually violated fixed service licence conditions and made Tatas liable to pay up the access deficit.

In its Friday order, TDSAT has ruled likewise, saying, 8216;8216;As per licensing conditions, fixed wireless service has to be provided within the subscriber premises, and wherever it is not, it has to be treated as WLLM.8217;8217;

The ADC, a fee that compensates BSNL and other fixed service operators for providing telecom services in unremunerative markets. Tatas have also been asked to keep Walky within subscriber premises.

Tatas may approach SC

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NEW DELHI: Tata Tele-services will approach the Supreme Court against the TDSAT order on its fixed wireless phone 8216;Walky8217; as the payment of levies retrospectively to BSNL could cost Tatas about Rs 300 crore, company sources said. According to highly-placed sources, TTS is exploring options to appeal in the Supreme Court. The company, however, is yet to get a clarity on this fact that whether ADC would be levied from now onward or retrospectively, they added. PTI